Archive coverage published on 24 October 2026, with an editorial date of 18 September 2026. The text reconstructs GIGA Storage’s September announcement without including subsequent developments. Cover: original Teslhub infographic based on the announcement’s figures, rather than a photograph of the project.

Green Turtle brings Tesla Megapacks to a major European storage project. GIGA Storage announced the start of construction in Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgium: the plan calls for 640 Megapack 3 units, with 700 MW of power and 2,800 MWh of storage capacity. At the time of the announcement, this is a construction site rather than a plant already in operation.

Green Turtle: what 700 MW and 2.8 GWh mean

The two measures describe different things. Megawatts indicate power, or the rate at which the installation can exchange energy. Megawatt-hours instead measure how much energy it can hold. For Green Turtle, 2,800 MWh equals 2.8 GWh: changing the unit does not change the scale of the project.

Dividing the stated capacity by the power gives four hours. That nominal ratio helps explain the scale of storage, rather than promising identical operation in every condition. It does not describe the operating profile the manager will choose each day, nor does it by itself incorporate losses, reserves or operating constraints.

The roles of Tesla and GIGA Storage

Tesla is identified as the EPC partner: the abbreviation covers engineering, procurement and construction. The announcement assigns it the supply of Megapack 3 units, engineering, construction and long-term maintenance. Civil works are assigned to Stadsbader Contractors under contract to Tesla.

GIGA Storage remains the project developer. The operation therefore concerns energy infrastructure built with Tesla technology for a customer, rather than a new car factory or Supercharger station. The earlier agreement announced in June concerned a letter of intent and exclusive negotiations: the start of construction is a later, separate phase.

A Belgian construction site, with operation planned for 2028

The chosen site is the Rotem industrial area, previously occupied by a zinc factory. According to the September communication, preliminary ground and road works began in mid-August. The planned connection is to Belgium’s high-voltage grid; the schedule indicated commissioning at the end of March 2028.

The date should be read as the project forecast made at that time. Starting construction is not the same as completion: battery installation, cabling, electrical infrastructure and the grid connection remain separate steps. We do not attribute production or services already being delivered to a site where the source documents neither.

Why it also matters to Tesla followers in Italy

Grid storage broadens the picture beyond cars. A battery of this size can shift electricity use over time, absorbing it at some moments and returning it at others. It does not generate new energy like a solar installation, nor does it single-handedly replace every other resource in the electricity system.

For Italian readers, the concrete point is Tesla’s involvement in European infrastructure. The location remains Belgian: this is not an announcement of an installation in Italy and does not establish a saving on household electricity bills or a change in Supercharger prices. Automatically linking a grid project to the price of an individual charge would go beyond what these documents support.

The distinction also helps when considering Supercharger network figures: chargers and industrial storage serve different needs, although both belong to Tesla’s energy activities.

Primary sources: GIGA Storage’s construction-start announcement, dated 17 September 2026; the official news index, which places it on 18 September. The figures and schedule are those announced at the time.

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Alessandro Marmaglio

Alessandro Marmaglio
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