Investment fund to build a battery storage facility worth CZK 200 million near Olomouc in Czechia

A battery storage facility worth CZK 200 million will be built near Olomouc. The facility, with a capacity of ten megawatts (MW), will help stabilise the electricity grid and earn revenue from trading electricity, whose price fluctuates during the day depending on consumption and renewable generation. It will be built by the WATT & BUILD investment fund, part of the Axelor Group. The group plans to bring the facility near Olomouc online in the first quarter of next year. Adam Šmákal, Axelor Group’s energy director, told CTK today.

Construction is due to begin this autumn. “We are selecting suppliers of batteries and other components while also finalising the process of obtaining all the permits. The facility will go straight into operation once the work is complete,” Šmákal said. The fund is currently completing a similar 2.5 MW battery storage facility in Mydlovary, South Bohemia.

According to Šmákal, battery storage facilities can earn revenue from price differences throughout the day. “When electricity is cheap or even priced negatively on the market because of a surplus of renewable generation, the facility stores it in batteries and then feeds it back into the grid during peak periods at a significantly higher price. At the same time, its own energy sources and trading capabilities make it possible to trade on the daily spot market,” Šmákal noted.

According to Šmákal, the future of European energy cannot do without battery storage. “As the structure of the energy sector changes, the need to regulate output in the electricity grid and stabilise it is also growing. This is important, among other things, to prevent major blackouts like the one in Spain this April or the recent one in Czechia,” he said.

In addition to battery storage facilities, Axelor is preparing another investment in the Czech energy sector. “In October, we plan to buy a multi-source portfolio comprising solar PV, batteries and gas-fired cogeneration,” Pavel Svoreň, chairman of Axelor Group’s board, told Seznam Zprávy. The group will also acquire energy sources. Axelor plans to spend around CZK 400 million this year on the purchase of operational energy sources, according to Svoreň.

The group also has major plans abroad. It plans to launch a flexibility aggregator in the Spanish market, where it is expected to be one of the first. “We are building six solar power plants in Spain with a capacity of 40 megawatts. Our licence allows us to connect batteries, and we expect to involve AlphaGrid,” Svoreň added.

Axelor Group was formed in 2024 by consolidating the assets of founder Pavel Svoreň and his team. It is active in the energy, real estate, digital automotive and finance sectors. It operates in Czechia and Western Europe. The WATT & BUILD fund was established in 2023 and specialises in building and operating renewable and grid-balancing energy sources in Czechia and the EU. Last year, according to its management, it exceeded its target return of ten percent, delivering a thirteen-percent return to investors. The fund will invest more than CZK 600 million this year. By the end of the year, it is expected to manage assets worth more than CZK 700 million.