Belgian wind and storage developer Storm is converting former coal-fired power station sites into large-scale battery parks, and the first of them is nearly complete. At the Langerlo battery park in the port of Genk-Zuid, 106 Tesla Megapack 2XL units are being installed on the site of a former coal-fired power station, for a capacity of 100 MW / 400 MWh.

Langerlo: all units in place by November 2026

Most units have already arrived and all 106 should be in place by early November 2026. Electrical connection and finishing work follow, with grid connection targeted for spring 2027. Flemish environment minister Jo Brouns and Genk mayor Wim Dries visited the site on 22 October.

Ruien doubles the portfolio

Storm's second park on a former coal-plant site, Ruien in Kluisbergen, will have 200 MW / 800 MWh using 180 Tesla units, in service in autumn 2027. Ruien occupies more than 3 hectares versus about 2 hectares for Langerlo. Combined, the two Storm parks total 300 MW and 1,200 MWh, and Langerlo reuses the former power plant's high-voltage grid connection.

€330 million and a ten-year Eneco mandate

Storm put the cost of the two Belgian battery parks at about €330 million, with Langerlo alone estimated at around €100 million. Funding comes from Storm, infrastructure investor TINC, Flemish investment company PMV and the Belgian Infrastructure Fund I4B, together with seven banks. Under a June 2026 agreement, Dutch utility Eneco will run both parks commercially and operationally for ten years, trading their combined 300 MW and 1,200 MWh on electricity markets.

A coal site with a second life

Langerlo burned coal and later biomass; its conversion to 100% biomass failed, the plant missed out on a billion-euro Flemish subsidy and it closed in 2017. The site was dismantled in 2021, but its high-voltage grid connection was retained and is now reused for the battery park. The old plant's grounds cover 25 hectares, leaving room for other employers on the remaining land.

"By 2027 about a third of Belgium's battery capacity will be located in the province of Limburg." — Jan Caerts, CEO, Storm

Limburg also hosts the Green Turtle project in Dilsen-Stokkem, which uses 640 Tesla Megapack 3 units for 2,800 MWh, compared with Langerlo's 400 MWh. Supply pressure is visible across the segment: on its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, Tesla said it is "almost sold out of all Megapacks for 2027".

Source: Teslant

This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.