Statkraft energizes Zerbst hybrid: 46.4-MW solar plus 16-MW battery

• Statkraft commissioned Zerbst in Saxony-Anhalt—46.4 MW of solar with a 16-MW/57-MWh battery—to add flexible clean power to Germany’s grid.

Statkraft has commissioned its first solar-plus-storage project in Germany, the Zerbst hybrid in Saxony-Anhalt, combining 46.4 MW of photovoltaic capacity with a 16-MW/57-MWh battery. The co-located design shifts daytime solar into evening demand, provides sub-second grid support, and showcases how hybrids can raise capture rates while easing system stress as inverter-based resources grow.

On the PV side, Zerbst follows a bankable blueprint: high-efficiency (often bifacial) modules on single-axis trackers, DC/AC ratios tuned for annual yield, and a plant controller configured for reactive power, ramp-rate limits, and fault ride-through per German TSO requirements. The battery—containerized lithium-ion strings behind grid-forming inverters—adds roughly three-and-a-half hours of duration, enabling frequency response, voltage control, and localized congestion relief.

Co-location is the economic unlock. Sharing interconnection and substation infrastructure lowers capex and trims conversion losses compared with standalone assets. A supervisory energy management system co-optimizes PV curtailment avoidance, energy arbitrage and ancillary-service bids while maintaining state of charge for high-value evening intervals.

For Germany’s Energiewende, assets like Zerbst tackle the emerging shape challenge. Solar now depresses midday prices; demand and residual load spike at dusk. Hybrids smooth that curve without leaning as heavily on gas peakers, and grid-forming controls add stability as synchronous generation declines. At the nodal level, strategically placed batteries dampen price volatility and reduce renewable curtailment during windy, sunny hours.

Community and environmental safeguards were central to approval: traffic and noise controls during build, biodiversity net-gain measures (species-rich groundcover, reinforced hedgerows), visual buffers along rights-of-way, and decommissioning plans with recycling pathways for modules and battery components. Post-COD, predictive maintenance—thermal scans, IV-curve tracing, cell balancing—will underpin availability and safety.

Commercially, Statkraft can blend contracted offtake with calibrated merchant exposure, using the battery to lift capture rates and monetize balancing markets. As flexibility products evolve, Zerbst’s controllability positions it to stack revenues while delivering measurable system value.

The takeaway: Zerbst isn’t just more megawatts—it’s better-timed megawatt-hours. For a grid chasing high renewables shares, that distinction matters.