Civil engineering concept for battery storage and grid infrastructure

Civil engineering concept for battery storage: we plan the road network, fencing, assembly areas and cable routes for your storage and grid project.

We develop site-appropriate concepts for the civil and electrical infrastructure of your storage and grid project. In doing so, we take all aspects of the technical infrastructure into account: the internal road network, fencing and optimally arranged assembly and pre-assembly areas. We place particular emphasis on the cable routes. We plan cable route and cable layout with a view to optimal utilisation, minimal route lengths and high operational reliability. The concept extends from the access road to the grid export route; we coordinate it closely with biology, electrical engineering and other disciplines and plan according to current standards, guidelines and official requirements. Large-scale battery storage is usually installed outdoors, near substations and grid nodes, next to operating buildings or at large photovoltaic and wind power plants.

For battery storage, several boundary conditions shape the site plan. Containers or cabinets, transformers and inverters need load-bearing installation areas and access for heavy transport; containers go up to the size of a sea container. For stationary battery storage systems above 250 kWh, the Technical Guideline for Preventive Fire Protection TRVB 165 N 26 (first edition of 15 July 2026) contains fire protection requirements; the edition currently in force, the regulations at the site and the permit notice are decisive. The thermal radiation to be expected in the event of fire is assessed on the basis of the available test and system data and feeds into the arrangement. Permit notices may specify, for example, distances between plant parts and a key box for access by emergency services, which is taken into account in the fence and gate. The fire brigade's tactics, which often involve cooling neighbouring containers, require easily accessible installation areas and sufficient extinguishing water. Design measures against propagation from cell to cell complement the distances.

Then there are water, nature and grid. Planning elements are liquid-tight transformer pits, infiltration swales and pressure relief areas; for extinguishing water retention, requirements are designed differently depending on the procedure, so early coordination with the authorities is advisable. On grassland, nature conservation law may give rise to permit or notification obligations, for example in the case of sealing, clearing or larger changes to the terrain, whereas underground cable lines are usually uncritical as long as no sensitive habitats such as wet meadows or dry grassland are affected. For transfer and metering equipment and the grid operator's communication technology, installation spaces with power supply and a defined ambient temperature must be provided. The suitability of the site can result from supra-local designations such as designated suitability zones.

Noise is also decided in the site plan. The main sources of a battery storage system are the fans of the cooling system and the inverter, plus transformers; the arrangement and orientation of the units can influence the impact on the neighbourhood. How loud the plant actually is at the site is shown by the sound immission measurement and, in operation, by the sound emission measurement and frequency analysis. In this way we combine technical know-how with practice-oriented planning. The results form the basis for the civil engineering design of the storage infrastructure in the permitting phase. In parallel, we clarify the grid enquiry with the grid concept. We also prepare civil engineering concepts for PV plants.