New battery gigafactory in works for German energy storage giant

German battery manufacturer Varta is investing €20 million in a new gigafactory for energy storage systems which will boast production output of 1GWh by the beginning of 2025.

With a history dating back over 135 years and contributing to milestones such as Fridtjof Nansen’s North Pole expedition and photos captured on the first moon landing, Varta is now focusing its attention on the growth of renewable energy.

Varta announced on Wednesday that its new factory for energy storage systems will go into operation some time during the Northern hemisphere’s Summer.

With an estimated initial production output of 500MWh by the end of this year, production will then be ramped up to 1GWh by the beginning of 2025 at the latest.

Average capacity for Varta’s energy storage systems is around 10kWh, which means that up to 100,000 such systems will be produced each year beginning in 2025. By the end of 2023, however, production is still expected to be around the 50,000 systems mark.

“Growth in the home storage market continues unabated,” said Dominik Gluba, general manager of Varta Energy Storage.

“In the first quarter of 2023, more than 110,000 new storage units were installed in Germany. For the first half of the year, we expect almost 240,000 new installations in Germany. With the production capacities of the new Gigafactory, we can adapt well to the growing market.”

Production at the factory is set to be highly automated utilising the latest Industry 4.0 technologies including robots and laser welding processes.

Situated with direct access to the A7 motorway, the new factory is therefore perfectly located for ease of transport. Varta is also already planning further expansion to the site with additional production lines also set to be added in the near future.