Energy Storage Systems (ESS)

As a producer, importer, or installer making Energy Storage Systems (ESS), including home batteries, available on the Belgian market, you must comply with the legal Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Are you a Bebat participant? If so, we will help you fulfil these obligations.

What is the legal EPR?

Anyone making (products containing) batteries available on the Belgian market must comply with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). That means you must take back batteries at the end of their life, and you are responsible for everything related to reporting to the authorities, collection, processing, recycling, and a host of other obligations concerning these batteries.

What are Energy Storage Systems?

Energy Storage Systems (ESS) refer to the various systems used for energy storage, for residential (home batteries), commercial, and/or industrial use.

ESS

To be clear, this does not include traditional batteries, such as AA, AAA, button cells, etc.

ESS contributions

Bebat unburdens its participants by assuming a large part of the obligations concerning the legal EPR. In return, you pay an annual flat-rate contribution of €60. You also pay an environmental contribution or administrative contribution, depending on the ESS modules you make available on the market.

ESS modules for an installation ≤ 16 MWh

You pay an environmental contribution for ESS modules for an installation ≤ 16 MWh. As a Bebat participant, you pay this when the battery is made available on the market, not when you take it back in the future. This is the ‘Pay as you Sell’ principle.

The environmental contribution applies to battery modules for energy storage systems that can be connected to the mains power and supply energy to the grid, regardless of whether they are stationary or mobile and regardless of the weight of the module. This applies to both systems operating within a grid-connected environment (on-grid) and systems operating completely autonomously (off-grid). The environmental contribution applies to battery modules used in: 

plug & play solutions 
residential applications, such as home batteries 
commercial, industrial, and battery farms up to and including 16 MWh

The environmental contribution is calculated per kilogram. To determine the weight of the battery, you need to take the weight of the battery/module with the serial number on it, including the housing if there is one. The inverter and Battery Management System (BMS) only need to be counted if they are integrated in the housing. 

The following are excluded from the definition:  

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) batteries intended for backup purposes only, providing temporary emergency power 
Lead modules 
EV batteries

ESS modules for an installation > 16 MWh

Bebat is looking into the possibility of developing a separate arrangement for battery modules from ESS installations > 16 MWh.

How is the limit of 16 MWh per installation assessed?

For this, we look at the total number of MWh of all battery modules of an energy storage installation that are installed (possibly in multiple phases) on a site.

As a site, we consider the environmental-technical unit to which the environmental permit applies or, in the absence of an environmental permit, the company site.

Always contact us in advance if you are installing ESS installations of this size.

List of ESS

Bebat compiled a list of ESS with their weight, chemical composition, and the amount of their environmental contribution.

Download the list of ESS

pdf · 147.6KB

Looking for previous lists from ESS? Download the history of ESS lists here.

Join Bebat: we’ll unburden you

Get support in complying with your EPR obligations for all battery categories from Bebat, the producer responsibility organisation (PRO) set up by the battery industry.

Become a Bebat participant Read more

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Declarations

If you sell or produce batteries in Belgium, you must declare this to Bebat via MyBebat.

Contributions

As a Bebat participant, you pay an annual flat-rate contribution, in addition to the environmental or administrative contribution.

Customised Bebat services

We offer customised solutions for the collection of large batteries.