Tractebel supports ENGIE in the construction of its third battery park in Belgium

On May 27, ENGIE officially launched the construction of its new 80 MW battery park in Drogenbos, Belgium. Starting from September 2027, 88 battery containers will be able to store or feed back into the grid the average daily electricity consumption of nearly 40,000 households. Tractebel is playing a key role in the Drogenbos Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project, building on its strong track record in supporting ENGIE’s BESS developments in Belgium.

Combined with the operational battery park in Vilvoorde and the one in Kallo, currently under construction, this brings ENGIE’s total battery storage capacity in Belgium to 1,520 MWh. Tractebel has also provided engineering support for the battery storage systems in Vilvoorde and Kallo.

Tractebel’s key role in third ENGIE BESS project in Belgium

As part of an integrated team alongside ENGIE, Tractebel has provided technical expertise from the development phase through to execution, including basic design, pre-procurement and support to the Capacity Remuneration Mechanism (CRM) bid. During the construction and commissioning phases, Tractebel will act as Owner’s Engineer, delivering multidisciplinary support across civil, electrical and supervisory control and data acquisition software packages, as well as engineering management, with contributions from its international teams, including in India. Tractebel’s responsibilities include design review, documentation control, compliance verification with ENGIE standards, health and safety assistance, and civil site supervision, ensuring a seamless continuation of support through to project completion.

Construction has officially begun at ENGIE’s third BESS project in Belgium

Strengthening the Belgian energy system

On its Drogenbos site, where ENGIE operates a 460 MW gas-fired power plant, the ground-breaking ceremony for the new battery park took place on June 2, 2026. From September 2027, this park will strengthen the Belgian energy system with flexible storage capacity. The 88 battery containers will be able to store 80 MW of electricity for four hours and later inject it back into the high-voltage grid, for a total storage capacity of 320 MWh. This corresponds to the average daily electricity consumption of nearly 40,000 households.

Batteries from the former test park are recycled

With the construction of the new battery park, the existing 6 MW / 8 MWh installation will be dismantled. ENGIE had installed it in 2017 on the Drogenbos site to test the performance of lithium-ion batteries from five different suppliers under real operating conditions. The valuable data collected has enabled ENGIE to optimally operate its new battery parks today.

ENGIE is donating one battery to the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven university in Belgium, which will use it for a European research project on material reuse as well as for student projects. The modules from the four other battery systems have since been inspected and removed by a specialized processing company, which will reuse them or recycle them into raw materials for the production of new batteries.

Tractebel is providing technical expertise from the development phase through to execution

Key project milestones

• October 2025: investment decision
• May 2026: start of earthworks
• October 2026: start of electrical works
• January 2027: arrival of the first battery containers
• September 2027: commissioning