Chinese battery integrator HyperStrong and German utility LEAG have broken ground on the 1.6 GWh Boxberg 400 GigaBattery in Saxony, one of Europe's largest battery energy storage projects and a keystone of LEAG's post-lignite GigawattFactory strategy.
Boxberg 400: 400 MW, 1,600 MWh, 640,000 Households
The project sits on a six-hectare remediated brownfield site — the former "Plant II" at LEAG's Boxberg power plant location — and will offer 400 MW of grid-connection capacity and 1,600 MWh of storage, enough to theoretically supply about 640,000 households with electricity for four hours. It will connect to the 50Hertz transmission network via a new 380 kV substation. HyperStrong is delivering the entire system on a turnkey basis, including battery supply, electrical integration and construction, and will use its lithium-iron-phosphate HyperBlock III liquid-cooled system configured for a four-hour duration.
A GigawattFactory Cornerstone For LEAG's Coal Exit
For LEAG, Germany's second-largest electricity producer, Boxberg 400 is a strategic bet on flexible clean power as it winds down lignite generation ahead of the country's 2038 coal-phaseout target. "The energy supply of the future requires high-performance storage systems," said LEAG Clean Power CEO Thomas Brandenburg. "Boxberg 400 marks another milestone in the development of our GigawattFactory. It will help make wind and solar power flexibly usable and strengthen the stability of the electricity grid." The site sits within a broader LEAG plan to develop gigawatts of wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen-ready backup plants on post-mining land.
HyperStrong's Biggest European Foothold Yet
The Boxberg deal significantly deepens HyperStrong's European footprint, following recent utility-scale wins in Bulgaria and other markets where the Beijing-based integrator is competing head-to-head with Sungrow, CATL and Fluence for grid-scale mandates. HyperStrong senior VP Pingyang Wang framed the groundbreaking as a signal that Chinese BESS platforms are moving from pilots to flagship European infrastructure. "By deploying our mature BESS solution and comprehensive EPC capabilities, we look forward to seeing this site become one of Europe's largest battery storage facilities," Wang said. The company, founded in 2011, has deployed more than 60 GWh of storage globally and is ranked a top-three global BESS integrator by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Reporting based on coverage from Energy-Storage.News, ESS News and HyperStrong's own release.