Near Berne in the Wesermarsch region, Voltfang and Alterric are connecting a large-scale battery storage system directly to an existing wind farm, thereby solving a problem typical of northern Germany.
Aachen/Berne, [date] 2026 – At the Berne wind farm (Wesermarsch district), Germany’s leading battery storage provider Voltfang and wind farm operator Alterric are constructing one of the first large-scale battery storage facilities of its kind in northern Germany. The storage system captures surplus wind power, stores it and feeds it back into the grid when capacity is available or when there is greater demand for electricity.
The key feature here is ‘co-location’: the storage system shares the wind farm’s existing grid connection. There is no need to apply for a new connection or lay new cables. This saves time – usually several years compared to a new grid connection – as well as costs and the effort involved in obtaining approvals.
This is a decisive advantage, particularly in northern Germany, where spare grid capacity is scarce.
For the region, this means less energy wasted due to wind turbines being shut down, a more stable electricity supply and greater value creation from existing installations.
“Co-location is not a vision for the future, but the logical response to the demands of today’s electricity grid. Anyone operating a wind farm needs a storage facility right next to it,” says Roman Alberti, co-founder and CEO of Voltfang.
“For us, co-location is a model that we would like to scale up further. We have over 250 wind farms in our portfolio. Each one is a potential energy hub capable of delivering more than it does today. However, for this scaling to succeed, we also need further support from the regulatory framework. If the existing infrastructure is used intelligently, the energy system as a whole benefits from lower costs, reduced strain on the grids and competitive electricity,” says Dr Frank May of Alterric.
The roles in the project are clearly defined: as the wind farm operator, Alterric provides the site and grid connection, whilst Voltfang handles the entire technical implementation – from hardware and software right through to day-to-day operations.
The project in Berne is a prime example of a trend that is becoming increasingly established in Germany: the systematic integration of generation and storage. Wind power and battery storage are planned together from the outset.
