Porsche has installed a stationary energy storage system at its Plant Leipzig built from used Taycan batteries taken from pre-series and works vehicles. The total capacity is 5 MW with an energy content of 10 MWh. The storage system can be operated at up to 20 per cent overload for short periods. It is made up of 4,400 individual battery modules, divided into four battery containers.

The battery modules used in the grueling everyday work of test vehicles were installed in the energy storage system without any technical changes. The four battery strings are each connected to an inverter and a transformer in a medium-voltage system.

The entire system, including the battery blocks, is designed for a useful life of more than ten years; individual battery modules can be replaced individually if necessary.

The electricity for the storage system is partly generated by the plant’s own solar systems with a peak output of 9.4 megawatts. When peak loads occur, the storage system helps to reduce them. This peak shaving is becoming increasingly important in this era of higher electricity requirements due to electromobility, heat pumps and other electrical consumers, as capped load peaks not only reduce grid charges but ideally can also reduce the need for expanded upstream grids.

Rapidly controllable energy storage systems such as the system at the Leipzig plant also play an important role in the energy market. The stationary battery storage system will be integrated into the balancing energy market in every marketable form by the end of the year – including, in addition to peak shaving, as a grid stabiliser for the upstream distribution grids.

Porsche production at its sites in Zuffenhausen, Leipzig and Weissach has been carbon-neutral since 2021. Since 2017, Porsche has been using only electricity from renewable energy sources. The production sites in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Leipzig, for example, receive their energy from green electricity and biomethane. The Leipzig site also obtains district heating from biomass.