The energy transition has accustomed us to focusing on what is most visible: solar panels on roofs, wind turbines on mountains, renewable parks spread across the territory. But a decisive part of the electric future is not only in producing more, but in better managing what we already produce. It is not enough to generate more clean energy if we are not able to store it when there is excess and return it when it is needed. That is the logic behind the project being built in Laufenburg, Switzerland: an underground battery designed to store electricity on a large scale and help stabilize the grid.
The project. FlexBase, the Swiss group behind the project, is building that facility in Laufenburgin the canton of Aargau, next to the German border and on a site that plans to connect to the national high-voltage grid. The group is digging a 27-metre-deep pit, longer than two football fields, to house the storage system underground. The battery will be part of the future Laufenburg Technology Centera 20,000 square meter complex with computing infrastructure, offices and laboratories.
A grid-scale battery. The Laufenburg project has been defined with a planned capacity of 1.5 GWh of storage after the choice of Invinity Energy Systems as technology partner. The comparison helps ground the figure: this would be equivalent to storing enough electricity to supply about 200,000 average homes in the United Kingdom for one day. In subsequent phases, the installation could grow to 2.1 GWh, if FlexBase moves forward with this expansion.
How this technology works. The easiest way to understand a redox flow battery is to forget about a mobile phone battery for a moment. In a lithium-ion battery, the energy is stored within a fairly compact structure. In a redox flow battery, however, the energy is in liquid electrolytes stored in large tanks. When the system has to deliver electricity, these liquids are pumped into stacks of cells, where the reaction occurs that converts that chemical energy into electricity useful for the grid. The tanks are, to put it graphically, the place where the energy is stored. The cells are the part that allows it to be removed and used. The Swiss system will be recharged with renewable surpluses, mainly solar and wind.
But no one talks about AI? Maybe you were missing a word that lately appears in almost any technological conversation: artificial intelligence. And yes, it’s here too. Not because the battery will “work with AI” but because the Laufenburg complex will include an artificial intelligence-oriented data center that will operate within the Laufenburg Technology Centre. The storage system is designed to smooth out the variable electrical demand associated with this computing and, at the same time, offer stabilization services to the network.
Partner enters the scene. FlexBase will not develop the technological part of the battery alone. As we say, the Swiss company has selected Invinity Energy Systems as a strategic partner to design and deliver the Laufenburg vanadium flow system. According to FlexBase, the British-Canadian company won the selection process for its entire technical proposal. The main argument is a combination of lifetime costs, safety, non-flammability, cycle stability and modularity. Now the project enters the engineering phase, where the teams will have to adjust the control software and the electrical connection with the existing network.
The next step. Swissgrid wants to connect the national high-voltage grid to the Laufenburg site, in what would be the first connection of its kind in Switzerland. For the operator, large batteries can become a relevant piece of the future of the network because they allow electricity to be moved over time: absorbing it when it is abundant and delivering it when it is needed.
It is not a battery for everything. The very logic of a redox flow battery helps to understand its limits: if you need large tanks to store energy, it will hardly be the best option when space and weight rule. Its lower energy density makes it less suitable for applications such as electric vehicles. It should also be noted that vanadium flow batteries remain at an earlier commercial stage and are usually more expensive than lithium-ion ones. Its promise is not to replace all batteries, but to fill a very specific niche: stationary, durable and long-lasting storage.
The calendar, for now, looks to 2029. FlexBase plans to launch the facility that year and expects to generate around 300 jobs linked to the future Laufenburg Technology Centre. The company presents the project as a privately financed initiative, with an estimated investment between 1,000 and 5,000 million Swiss francs (between 1,090 and 5,450 million euros). If the deadlines are met, Laufenburg will not only house a huge underground battery: it will also become one of Europe’s most ambitious bets to store electricity where the grid begins to need it.
Images | FlexBase
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