Portuguese power developer TagEnergy is to join with Tesla to build France’s largest battery storage facility in the commune of Cernay-lès-Reims, about 100km east of Paris.

When complete by the end of next year, the 240MW facility will have five times more capacity than the largest system in France today.

Financed by a consortium of European banks, the project will break ground next month once archaeological investigations have concluded.

Its purpose is to smooth out intermittent generation from wind and solar and add extra capacity during periods of peak demand.

It will cover 20% of the residential electricity needs for the Marne department, which has a population of about 565,000.

France’s Energy Plan, currently out for public consultation, calls for a 150% growth in wind capacity and a 300% increase in solar capacity by 2035.

Tesla is the EPC contractor on the project and will also manage the battery in the French energy market.

TagEnergy chief executive Franck Woitiez said the battery would “contribute significantly to France’s energy sovereignty while enhancing grid stability as renewable energy penetration grows“.

He noted that TagEnergy had recently connected the first phase of the southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm in Australia and the UK’s largest transmission-connected battery.

Other large-scale battery projects are under way in France. UK developer Harmony Energy recently announced it would build a 100MW project near Nantes in Brittany.

The largest plant in operation is a 61MW asset owned by French energy company TotalEnergies.