The largest energy storage facility in Europe will be built right on the Polish border
The German energy company LEAG, in collaboration with Fluence, is starting construction of one of Europe’s most impressive battery projects. On the site of a former open-pit mine near the town of Jänschwalde, just a few kilometers from the Polish border, a 1 GW / 4 GWh energy storage hub will be built. The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2027.
A four-hour battery for 1.6 million households
The project, named GigaBattery Jänschwalde 1000, will cover approximately 10 hectares. It is designed as a four-hour storage system—capable of delivering 1 GW of power continuously for four hours. According to LEAG’s forecasts, this amount of energy could supply up to 1.6 million households in eastern Germany.
At the heart of the installation will be next-generation Smartstack battery modules, recently launched by Fluence, a joint venture between Siemens and the U.S. company AES. Each module (so-called Pod) offers 7.5 MWh of capacity, and the entire system is managed by the intelligent Smart Skid system—responsible for cooling, control, cabling, and monitoring.
The Fluence OS and BMS technologies will automate many operations and help reduce cell degradation. The manufacturer emphasizes that the built-in AI in Smartstack analyzes data in real time and optimizes the operation of the entire installation.
Part of a bigger plan: GigawattFactory in Lusatia
The battery storage facility is not a standalone project but part of an ambitious plan to transform the Lusatia region. LEAG Clean Power aims to turn post-mining areas into a large-scale energy complex called GigawattFactory.
The project includes:
- building wind and solar farms with a combined capacity of around 7 GW,
- developing an integrated energy storage system,
- producing green hydrogen from renewable energy surpluses,
- using hydrogen in low-emission gas power plants.
The goal is to provide renewable energy for approximately 4 million households, stabilize the grid, and create new jobs in a region that has relied on coal power for decades. The entire investment is expected to be completed by around 2030, with a total value exceeding €10 billion.