Switzerland has a new benchmark for battery storage. Utility and power firms Axpo and energieUri have commissioned two large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects at the same industrial site in the Plattischachen area of Gurtnellen, Canton Uri — Axpo's installation rated at 50MW and energieUri's at 8.4MW — officially inaugurated as Switzerland's largest operational BESS facility.
The facilities sit adjacent to an existing national grid substation and energieUri's Arniberg power plant. According to Hermann Epp, Member of the Cantonal Government and Director of Public Works, the Plattischachen industrial area is developing into an energy hub of national significance. Axpo's system is designed to serve national grid needs, while energieUri's installation targets regional requirements within Canton Uri. Both aim to provide grid flexibility by storing surplus renewable energy and dispatching it during periods of high demand.
System integrator Fluence supplied the BESS technology for both projects, with Axpo subsidiary CKW handling installation and grid connection in cooperation with energieUri. The projects were announced in September 2025, with construction commencing shortly afterwards and commissioning completed in the first half of 2026 as originally planned.
From 2MW to 50MW in seven years. The Gurtnellen project represents a significant scale-up from Axpo's first Swiss BESS — a 2MW/2.17MWh system deployed in 2019. The company has stated plans to reach several hundred megawatts of installed storage capacity over the next three years across multiple European markets. It has already deployed a 20MW system in Sweden in February 2024, acquired a 25MW project there in 2023, and secured a contract in Poland's 2024 capacity market auction for a BESS to be delivered in 2029.
A market with room to grow. Switzerland has historically focused on large-scale pumped hydro storage, including a 20GWh facility that came online in 2022, alongside alternative technologies such as a proposed 1.6GWh flow battery project. In May this year, Invinity Energy Systems was selected to design and deliver what is described as the world's largest flow battery for a data centre in Switzerland under construction by Flexbase.
WHY IT MATTERS
Switzerland is a reminder that mature, hydro-rich markets still need batteries — and that commissioning speed follows a repeatable pattern: announce, build, energise within a year. For European buyers and developers, the more instructive signal is Axpo's trajectory: a 2MW pilot in 2019 has become a 50MW national-grid asset, with a stated target of several hundred megawatts across multiple markets within three years, four years, and a Poland capacity market contract already in hand. Storage procurement in Europe is becoming a programme decision, not a project decision — and suppliers are being selected on integration capability and delivery certainty.
THE EXLIPORC PERSPECTIVE
Utility-scale headlines get attention, but the same procurement logic now applies one level down: as European utilities scale storage into programmes, they buy from partners with documented specifications, repeatable integration and dependable lead times rather than from one-off quotes. EXLIPORC manufactures LFP storage across residential and commercial platforms — including the 314Ah LVB16WTC 16kWh home system and 261kWh liquid-cooled C&I cabinets — and supports distributors, EPCs and OEM partners with a 2-unit minimum order and multi-language app support. Building a European pipeline for 2026–2027? Talk to us: gina@exliporcpower.com · www.exliporcpower.com.
