Switzerland's largest mega-battery goes into operation in Gurtnellen

In the canton of Uri, in Gurtnellen, the largest mega-battery currently operating in Switzerland was commissioned in recent days. The plant was built by Axpo and Energie Uri and has a capacity of 58 megawatts.

The facility consists of 28 containers holding lithium-ion batteries. Their job is to store electricity when production exceeds demand and feed it back into the grid when demand rises, helping to keep the grid stable.

According to Werner Jauch, director of Energie Uri, the plant is part of a broader strategy built up over the years through hydroelectric, wind and solar plants. The battery, he explains, creates the flexibility needed to guarantee security of supply.

A market that could get tighter

Mega-batteries also serve an economic purpose. As solar production rises, especially around midday in summer, electricity prices tend to fall. Reto Kaspar, head of battery project development at Axpo, explains that the plant stores electricity when it is cheaper and feeds it back into the grid when its value is higher.

With Gurtnellen coming online, the number of mega-batteries operating in Switzerland rises to thirteen, including one in Poschiavo. Eleven more are under construction, and seven are at an advanced planning stage.

Severin Nowak, a lecturer at the Institute of Electrical Engineering at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, notes that the sector is growing strongly, driven by the electrification of consumption, including heat pumps and electric vehicles, alongside the growth of renewables. Batteries, he says, are becoming an interesting complement for shifting solar power in time, for instance from midday to evening.

The expert points out a limit, though: as more such storage plants are built, competition between them increases. This could put pressure on costs, change the business model and slow the sector's growth. It also raises the question of who will keep investing in infrastructure meant to serve a public interest such as grid stability once margins narrow.

Finally, mega-batteries remain a limited tool: they are not designed to store energy over long periods, and so they do not solve the problem of winter supply, when renewable production declines.