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Enertrag reached financial close on the three-hour LFP Les Sablons BESS in northern France. ESS News names Huawei as supplier, and operation is targeted for spring 2027.
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Enertrag's image of the Les Sablons BESS beside wind turbines in Hauts-de-France. It appears to be a site visualisation, not a photo of the finished plant.
Image: Enertrag
Source · Press image from the Enertrag newsroom, used for news reporting.
German developer Enertrag has reached financial close on the Les Sablons BESS, a 39 MW / 117 MWh battery energy storage system in Vendeuil, in France's Hauts-de-France region, ESS News reported on October 22.
Construction is already underway and commercial operation is targeted for spring 2027. ESS News said Huawei will supply the BESS and Gazel Energie will act as aggregator. Enertrag said on LinkedIn that Crédit Agricole group was key to the financing, without giving the structure or the amount.
Les Sablons is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) project, according to Energy Global, and runs for three hours at full power: 117 MWh divided by 39 MW. Natural Power, which carried out technical due diligence for Enertrag, said the project is one of the first three-hour-duration BESS projects in France.
At full power, 39 MW for 3 hours matches the 117 MWh capacity of Les Sablons, as reported by ESS News.
Illustration (AI-generated)
The consultant said its review covered permitting, grid connection agreements, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts, route-to-market arrangements, and the technical inputs behind the financial model.
Longer duration is what lets a battery shift energy rather than only smooth short swings. A 39 MW system with 117 MWh can discharge across a multi-hour evening peak, where a one-hour system of the same power would hold only 39 MWh. Natural Power's adviser Julien Teixeira said the project combines three-hour duration with co-location alongside significant wind generation, which he called important for the development of France's BESS market.
The reports do not give revenue terms. ESS News names Gazel Energie as aggregator, the party that markets the battery's output.
The close follows Enertrag's start of construction earlier this month on a 200 MW / 840 MWh BESS at Bertikow in Brandenburg, Germany, built with SMA inverter technology, ESS News noted. Voltgrid has also covered Germany's four-hour battery pipeline. Les Sablons is a smaller, shorter-duration asset than Bertikow.
The size of the Les Sablons debt and each lender's share were not disclosed, and the project cost was not given in the reports. The Huawei supply and Gazel Energie aggregator roles come from ESS News's report rather than from the financing announcement itself. Voltgrid News also covered BW ESS's Hams Hall debt financing.
