FRANKFURT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Germany's power grid battery capacity used to stabilise electricity networks has risen by nearly a third so far this year, official data showed on Thursday, reflecting efforts to help grids accommodate more renewable power.

The Berlin government wants wind and solar power to account for 80% of electricity by 2030. Renewables contributed 60% to power production in the first half of 2024.

The long-term goals require an increase in storage to help balance supply and demand on the system, and to reduce volatility in intraday power prices in the wholesale market. The government has no firm targets on what storage needs to be built.

Companies with batteries can benefit by selling power when prices are high and filling their storage with power when prices are low or even negative.

"We observe a strong, market-driven ramp-up in battery storage," said a German economy ministry spokesperson in reply to an enquiry by Reuters.

The spokesperson cited measures taken to reduce fees and levies for the new infrastructure and speeding up approvals.

A government-commissioned market register, which the spokesperson referred to, showed 1.8 gigawatt hours (GWh) of capacity were completed on Sept. 18, compared with 1.4 GWh on Jan. 1.

A week ago, British power firm VPI, backed by energy trader Vitol, said it will invest up to 450 million euros ($502.07 million) over the next three to five years in battery projects mainly in Germany's windy North-East.

The market register, compiled by the Aachen technical university, also listed a pipeline of 3.7 GWh of known projects from now up to September 2027.

Utility RWE (RWEG.DE) , opens new tab is among the local players that are building and operating storage assets.

By the end of 2024, RWE will launch capacity of 235 megawatt hours at the Hamm and Neurath power plant sites in North Rhine-Westphalia, among a raft of projects at home and abroad, a spokesperson said.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/german-power-grid-battery-capacity-up-nearly-third-2024-data-shows-2024-09-19/