The Dutch electricity grid faces significant challenges in balancing economic growth with sustainability targets. Rapid electrification across industrial, transport, commercial, and residential sectors strains existing grid infrastructure, leading to congestion and transmission bottlenecks. These issues limit the integration of renewable energy and delays critical projects, threatening economic growth. Industries face unpredictable energy costs due to unflexible, non-dynamic power grids, and the housing crisis worsens by grid limitations.
Long-duration energy storage (LDES) by innovative batteries offers a promising solution. By providing 8+ hours of storage, these systems can balance intermittent production and demand, thereby stabilizing the grid, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and ensuring more effective use of renewable energy. Additionally, scalable storage mitigates price volatility, making renewable energy projects more economically viable. TenneT expects 4.9 GW of large-scale battery storage is required in The Netherlands by 2030, while there was only 0.14 GW installed in 2023 (CBS). Hence, a rapid scale-up of LDES is needed to meet the 4.9 GW challenge.
The name SLDBatt is derived from Sustainable Long Duration Battery Technology. The consortium was formed in response to the Growth Fund Material Independence & Circular Batteries, coordinated by the Battery Competence Cluster NL (BCC-NL), which aims to build a coherent, national program where innovative battery materials and components, production tech, and recycling approaches are assessed. SLDBatt is a collaboration of three technical universities, a university of applied sciences, three companies specializing in technology development, and two internationally operating energy and chemical companies. The project focuses on developing battery systems that can store renewable energy for 8 to 100 hours. This solves one of the most crucial challenges in the renewable energy transition — providing reliable and affordable electricity, especially when wind and solar power are not readily available.