The amendment came into force on 23 December 2025. As a result, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have now offended all project developers who had prepared or even submitted their planning application documents on the basis of the "first" privileged status.
Section 35 para. 1 no. 11 BauGB now privileges battery storage systems that are "spatially and functionally connected to an existing renewable energy facility". These functional "green energy storage systems" were previously included in the privileged status for wind turbines and were already permitted as ancillary facilities in development plans for solar installations. However, according to the explanatory memorandum, the legislator is now including the specific operating mode of a battery storage system in the land use regulations of the BauGB.
For stand-alone battery storage systems, the legislator has restricted the privileged status to a 200 metre area to the property boundary of a transformer station from extra-high voltage to high voltage or from high voltage to medium voltage or to the property boundary of an operating or abandoned power plant with a rated output of 50 megawatts or more. At the same time, the legislation restricts the permissibility of stand-alone battery storage systems, including the associated ancillary facilities and open spaces, to a maximum of 5 hectares per municipality. In this way, the legislator is creating direct competition protection among competitors and favouring the first greyhound to the finish line.
Almost nothing remains of the significant acceleration and simplification of authorisation procedures for "desirable battery storage systems". This is because the majority of battery storage systems will continue to be authorised as an installation for the public supply of electricity in accordance with No. 3 Alt. 1 BauGB and will have to prove that they are tied to a specific location. In this respect, the legislator has only clarified that within a 200 metre radius around a transformer station, the location of the facility within the meaning of Section 35 para. 1 no. 3 alt. 1 BauGB exists in any case. At the same time, the legislator has now increased the pressure on land around transformer substations to such an extent that it will be difficult for grid operators to push ahead with grid expansion projects if the land around the transformer substations is scarce and worth its weight in gold.
Please contact our lawyers Judith Foest, Dr Nicolas Harding or Dr Johannes Badenhop if you have any questions about admissibility under planning law.