Axpo focuses on batteries and hydrogen

Axpo is establishing two new departments in the batteries and hydrogen business fields, it was announced today. Battery storage will be a crucial technology for security of supply during the transition to a CO2-free energy world, while hydrogen generated from renewable sources can significantly reduce CO2 emissions from industry and transport.

Axpo has been continuously advancing the expansion of renewable energies on an international scale for several years as a solar plant and wind farm developer. This growth needs to keep pace with the development of infrastructure for energy storage and additional solutions to reduce CO2 emissions. In the future, battery storage and the energy carrier hydrogen will play an important role in the renewable energy world. Recognising this, Axpo’s Renewables Division has established two new business units – Batteries and Hydrogen – and will be putting the respective teams in place during the coming months.

Christoph Sutter, Head of the Axpo Renewables Division, commented: "We have strongly expanded our renewable energies business in recent years and, with our subsidiaries Volkswind and Urbasolar, are in an excellent position in wind and solar energy. Battery storage and hydrogen technologies will become increasingly important to ensure that power from renewable sources is continuously available. Therefore, it's only logical that we now want to specifically target and drive forward activities in these promising business fields."

As Switzerland's largest producer of renewable energies, Axpo is in an excellent position to achieve success in the areas of battery storage and hydrogen, thanks to its extensive know-how in energy management and trading, as well as its strong international presence in some 40 markets.

Axpo has been active in the construction, operation, management and marketing of large-scale battery storage systems for some time. In Switzerland, the company developed a 2-MW battery storage facility in Rapperswil-Jona in 2019, and at the end of 2020 announced the construction of a 6.25-MW storage system in Rathausen/Lucerne. Internationally, Axpo markets the flexibility options of a 30-MW battery storage system in Yllikkälä, Finland. By means of an IT platform, flexibility options from power storage and decentralised renewable energy facilities are marketed on the ancillary service and balancing energy markets, as well as in day-ahead and intraday trading. Axpo’s battery storage services will now also be specifically developed on an international scale.

In the area of green hydrogen, which is produced with electricity from renewable energy sources, Axpo is developing the necessary know-how and intends to realise leading-edge projects with cooperation partners. Green hydrogen is a key technology for the energy transition and decarbonisation.