As early as 14 November 2025, the Bundestag passed legislation granting special planning permission for battery storage facilities under Section 35(1)(11) of the BauGB. Under Section 5 of the Act to Accelerate the Expansion of Geothermal Installations, heat pumps and heat storage systems, as well as amending further legal frameworks for the climate-neutral expansion of heat supply, and amending the Building Code and the Federal Immission Control Act (Federal Law Gazette I No. 348 of 22 December 2025), the legislature immediately amended this preferential treatment of battery storage systems under building law. The Act entered into force with regard to Article 5 on 23 December 2025.
The planning law privileges for battery storage systems are set out in Section 35(1)(11) and (12) of the BauGB. Accordingly, battery storage systems are, in principle, granted planning law privileges if they are spatially and functionally linked to an existing installation for the use of renewable energy (Section 35(1)(11) of the BauGB). If a battery storage system does not meet this requirement, it may, under Section 35(1)( 12 of the BauGB if it is to be erected no more than 200 metres from the boundary of a substation or a power station with a rated output of at least 4 MW, and if it itself has a rated output of at least 4 MW, and the total area occupied within the municipal boundaries by all battery storage systems authorised under Section 35(1)(12) of the BauGB, including their ancillary facilities, does not exceed 0.5 per cent of the municipal area and is no more than 50,000 m². The conditions set out in Section 35(1)(12) of the BauGB must be met cumulatively.
In its resolution of 19 December 2025 (Parliamentary Paper 732/25), the Bundesrat has already drawn attention to remaining ambiguities and possible misunderstandings. This applies in particular to Section 35(1)(11) of the BauGB. Among other things, the Bundesrat suggests that the requirement of a ‘spatial and functional connection’ be clarified. It also points out that the wording ‘an existing renewable energy installation’ in Section 35(1)(11) of the BauGB may give rise to uncertainties. It is currently unclear from what point in time a renewable energy installation is to be regarded as ‘existing’. In light of current practice, the preferential treatment under planning law should in any case also cover battery storage systems that are to be authorised in parallel with renewable energy installations.