Dutch developer, Giga Storage, the owner of one of the largest planned BESS in Europe, announced last week it has contracted Swedish engineering consultancy, Sweco, for the design.

The ‘Green Turtle’ battery park in Belgium will have a capacity of 700MW and a storage capacity of 2.8GWh with construction set to begin in 2025 and completion by 2028.

Sweco will design the civil engineering and electrical engineering works for the project and said the facility will make a significant contribution to Belgium’s energy mix by releasing stored renewable energy during times of low solar and wind generation.

The project is in line with Europe’s broader objectives of expanding BESS capacity. In July, renewable energy investment company Bluestar Energy Capital announced the launch of Noveria Energy, a project development platform focused on European BESS.

Joeri Siborgs, general manager of GIGA Storage Belgium, said:  “This is a flagship project for us in Belgium and an important project in realising the energy transition in Europe, where access to large-scale electricity storage plays a vital role.”

The Green Turtle site is a part of Europe’s wider objective to secure 42.5% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Last month, the EU approved €682m ($748m) in state aid to support Belgium’s offshore wind energy development, specifically to support the construction and operation of the country’s first offshore wind farm in the North Sea with an expected capacity of 700MW.