Austria’s First Swarm Storage Facility Rises in Wiener Neudorf

Balancing Renewables and the Grid

The urgency is underscored by rapid growth in photovoltaic installations. Austria now has over 160,000 PV systems with a combined capacity of 3.3 gigawatt-hours. In Lower Austria alone, 40,000 storage units already provide a total capacity of 575,000 kilowatt-hours, according to the Deputy Governor.

Studies indicate that Austria’s electricity demand will increase by a quarter by 2030. Experts from the Energy and Environment Agency of Lower Austria (eNu) have calculated that the province will need storage capacities of one kilowatt-hour per capita by that year.

At a recent storage symposium in Baden, around 250 experts from the energy sector, business, research, and municipalities discussed the path forward. Participants included Alfons Haber from the regulatory authority E-Control and Vera Immitzer from PV Austria.

The eNu also recognized communities with the largest growth in storage capacity during 2025 through its “Storage League” initiative. The municipality of Edlitz was named provincial champion, achieving 5.38 kilowatt-hours of storage per capita.

The Storage League and Household Benefits

Herbert Greisberger, managing director of eNu, highlighted the practical benefits for households. “A household without a storage unit uses only about 30 percent of its self-generated PV electricity directly; with storage, self-consumption rises to around 60 to 80 percent,” he said, adding that eNu offers a free advisory service.

The push for storage extends well beyond residential batteries. The global market for mega-storage batteries is projected to reach between 200 and 700 billion dollars by 2030, according to a study by consultancy Bain, and could surpass the one-trillion-dollar mark by 2040.

In Nickelsdorf, the energy company Püspök Erneuerbare Energie will open Austria’s largest installed battery in June — a large-scale storage unit with a capacity of 70 megawatt-hours. Founder Lukas Püspök described the facility as a “super hybrid park,” where the battery complements existing solar and wind installations by feeding electricity into the grid when it is genuinely needed.

Püspök argued that battery storage is the “missing link” of the energy transition. He noted that spot market electricity prices often triple during the day due to generation peaks from solar installations, and can even turn negative at midday. “We should view investments in the energy transition as resilience measures against prosperity-threatening global crises,” he said.

Innovation Beyond Lithium-Ion

While lithium-iron-phosphate batteries handle short-term daily fluctuations, researchers are exploring next-generation technologies. “Modern energy storage technologies such as quantum batteries for electricity and thermochemical storage for heat are still in their infancy,” said Robert Tichler from the Energy Institute at Johannes Kepler University Linz. “Their development opens up new value creation and export opportunities.”

The Graz-based deep-tech company Emerald Horizon is developing ADES modules designed to provide 25 megawatts of thermal and ten megawatts of electrical power over a lifespan of up to 20 years. Its modular hybrid system, DUALstore PLUS, can store up to 100 megawatt-hours and temperatures of 550 degrees Celsius. “The system is safe, extremely powerful, and will revolutionize our energy systems,” said Mario Müller, Head of Research and Development.

Another established player is the Wiener Neudorf-based tech company CellCube, which began its research as a spin-off of the Austrian Research Center Seibersdorf in 2000. “CellCube batteries have a service life of over 25 years, can be charged and discharged an unlimited number of times, and are non-flammable,” said CFO Patrick Halwax.

Austria also holds significant potential in pumped-storage hydropower. The country, which depends on hydropower for roughly 60 percent of its electricity, has an estimated pumped-storage capacity of about five terawatt-hours. Verbund CEO Michael Strugl stated that “pumped-storage power plants perform an indispensable task in ensuring grid stability and the secure supply of clean electricity to Austria.”

Pumped Storage and the Road Ahead

Hundreds of millions of euros are currently being invested in expanding this capacity. By 2029, the Kaprun power plant site is set to expand considerably, with the partially underground “PSW Schaufelberg” project delivering an additional 480 megawatts from an altitude of 700 meters and a depth of 900 meters.

Despite these efforts, Austria’s required amount of energy storage is expected to quadruple by 2040, according to the Energy Agency. A pilot project for bidirectional charging, or vehicle-to-grid technology, was launched last autumn by A1 and Renault, and the V2GAllianz Österreich platform aims to connect stakeholders and experts in the field.