With this project GIGA Storage takes a significant step towards realising an affordable, sustainable European energy system
GIGA Storage, the European operator of large-scale energy storage projects, has finalised the financing for the construction of Albatross near Neuenkirchen in Lower Saxony, one of the largest energy storage projects in Germany. A consortium of seven international banks, comprising ABN AMRO, Hamburg Commercial Bank, ING, Rabobank, Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank, SMBC and Société Générale, is providing a €260 million debt financing package for the project. Financial close took place on 23 October 2026. Construction will start in early 2027 and the facility is expected to become operational early 2029.
Albatross is GIGA Storage’s first project in Germany and has a power output of 350 MW and a storage capacity of 1.400 MWh. This is comparable to the daily en-ergy consumption of approximately 193.000 German households. It will be con-nected directly to the high-voltage grid of German transmission system operator Amprion at the adjacent 380 kV Merzen substation. The grid connection agree-ment, one of the first of its kind with Amprion for large-scale energy storage, was signed on 14 October 2026.
Dr. Christoph Müller, CEO of Amprion: 'Albatross demonstrates that large-scale energy storage is indeed moving from plan to reality. Battery storage can balance generation and consumption and keep the electricity system flexible, efficient and secure. By the end of 2030, we aim to connect up to 35 GW of customer projects to our grid, including more energy storage.'
Prior to financial close, GIGA Storage had finalised all key project conditions, in-cluding permits, land contracts and supplier contracts. CATL is responsible for the engineering, construction and maintenance of the energy storage project and will work with several European subcontractors.
Accelarating GIGA Storage’s international growth
With Albatross, following Leopard (300 MW in the Netherlands) and Green Turtle (700 MW in Belgium), GIGA Storage now has approximately 1.4 GW / 5.6 GWh of energy storage capacity under construction across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Kevin Dijkers, CEO of GIGA Storage, says: 'Albatross is our first major step in Ger-many and an important milestone in our growth. With Leopard coming online next year, we are on track to have more than 2030 GW of operational capacity by 2 and to become a leading large-scale energy storage company in North-West Europe. Every project we build is critical infrastructure for an affordable, reli-able and sustainable European energy system.'
Animesh Ranjan, Chief Investment Officer at GIGA Storage, concludes: 'The financing of this project in Germany shows that banks are keen to continue invest-ing in the energy transition and that this confidence extends beyond national borders. A significant portion of the banking consortium for our Green Turtle pro-ject in Belgium has also joined the Albatross project, and we are very pleased to have onboarded new lenders as well. The support of our banking partners is essential to continue developing new large-scale energy storage projects and thus tackle the challenges of grid congestion across Europe.'
This milestone marks an important step in the company’s growth and reinforces its ambition to build a leading large-scale energy storage platform in North-West Europe, targeting more than 2 GW of operational capacity by 2030.
ING acted as financial adviser for this transaction. Clifford Chance provided legal advice to GIGA Storage as borrower’s counsel; White & Case advised the banking consortium as lenders’ counsel.
Source: GIGA Storage
