Battery storage and MND: what's in store for us this year?
In the last Report, we informed you that the MND Group, through its subsidiary MND BESS (Battery Energy Storage System), has jumped straight into the battery business. We are currently in various stages of preparing several battery storage projects with a total capacity of around 42 MW and an installed capacity of over 100 MWh. In the Czech Republic, our target is to reach a total capacity of 50 MW, which is not far off.
The first and largest project is BESS Břeclav with an output of 12 MW. As we have already verified in the context of mining projects, the most challenging phase is obtaining all necessary permits, subsequent negotiations with the authorities and passing all necessary legislative processes. However, nothing is impossible, and when determination is present, everything goes much easier. That is why, despite all the obstacles, we are just one step away from the issuance of the building permit so that we can start construction work at the beginning of the summer and manage the implementation of the repository, including its commissioning and licensing, by the first quarter of 2026 at the latest. The documentation for the construction is currently being commented on.
Given the completion date, two smaller projects of identical technical design with 2 MW capacity should be completed in the same period. In this case, the legislative process is a little easier as they will be installed on the sites of our onshore PV plants. This means that for BESS Orlová we have managed to obtain a decision from the building authority that we can start construction without the need for a building permit. For BESS Mušov, we are now trying to do the same.
After Breclav, BESS Hodonín is the second largest and at the same time "stand-alone" (battery storage connected separately to the grid) project with a capacity of 10 MW. At the current stage, the tender for the contractor has been completed and the contract has been signed with a completion date of April 2026. The project documentation for the construction permit is currently being prepared and the binding opinions of the authorities concerned are being processed.
We also expect the BESS Bruzovice project to be completed in the middle of next year, for which the tender for the general contractor is currently underway.
We have one more 10 MW project to complete before the 42 MW, which is currently in the feasibility phase, so we will not specify it further for the time being. However, we can disclose that the two battery storage facilities will again be independently connected to the distribution grid at a high voltage level of 22 kV.
All of the above battery storage facilities will be used to provide support services and power trading. For this reason, MND, Inc. has recently entered into a contract with a certifying agency and has begun taking the necessary steps to become a stand-alone flexibility aggregator by the end of this year to operate the above activities, not only through the battery storage facilities mentioned here, but also through existing and under-construction CHP units.
At the end of April, a subsidy was announced specifically for "STAND-ALONE" battery storage facilities, which could cover up to 20 percent of the investment costs, helping to improve the mathematical models considered and significantly reducing the payback period for individual projects. We are therefore working with a subsidy agency, with whose help we will submit applications for subsidies to make the most of the possible support.
As you may have read in the last edition of the Report, we are also making the same efforts in Germany. There, the overall process is noticeably more complicated due to different foreign legislation. Nevertheless, we already have two major projects approved and others in the pipeline. The targets for the German market are slightly higher than for the Czech market, ideally to reach a total of 100 MW of battery storage capacity. Specifically, the BESS Geldersheim project with a capacity of12 MW and the BESS Helmstedt project with a capacity of15 MW, for which a tender for technology suppliers is underway.
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