The GigawattFactory is LEAG's future-focused programme for a climate-friendly energy system – an integrated concept that combines renewable energy, large-scale storage facilities, flexible power plants and hydrogen solutions. Through the GigawattFactory, a new energy architecture is emerging in the long-established energy regions of eastern and central Germany, designed to combine security of supply and innovation with regional strengths.
A new Chapter for Energy
At the LEAG Group, we are shaping one of the largest transformation processes in Germany's energy industry. Step by step, we are evolving from a mining and power plant operator into an innovative energy supplier that is making an important contribution to the restructuring of the energy system with a new portfolio, new technologies and new partnerships.
The GigawattFactory is at the heart of our strategic realignment. It represents a scalable, interconnected energy system that combines the increasing share of renewable energies with the flexibility needed to ensure a secure electricity supply around the clock, whether in summer or winter.
What defines the GigawattFactory
The GigawattFactory brings together three core technological components into an integrated next-generation supply system. These pillars are designed to functionally interlock and complement each other. This creates a coordinated system that generates energy, stores it, and provides it on demand in a climate-friendly, flexible and scalable manner.
Energy from Experience
Lusatia and central Germany have been energy regions for decades. Today, established structures provide us with important prerequisites for the transformation of the energy system: existing grid connections, industrial infrastructure, available land, and a skilled workforce. Taken together, this creates locations with strong conditions for developing modern energy and industrial projects.
Existing grid connections up to 380 kV create ideal conditions for large-scale renewable energy generation, storage, and H2-ready power stations.
Key infrastructure at power plant sites enables the development of new energy and industrial parks.
Skilled workers and expertise from mining, power plant operations, and engineering services form a unique pool of capabilities for the energy sector of the future.
Large areas of available land, reclaimed after active mining, provide space for energy parks and sustainable landscape development.
Locations and Projects
Energy, Development and new Opportunities
The GigawattFactory is creating conditions in Lusatia and Central Germany that are increasingly relevant for municipalities, businesses and investors. Industrially pre-developed land and prospects of a secure, low-carbon energy supply are among the key location factors for sustainable structural change. In this context, Lusatia is positioning itself as an advantageous region for clean industries and is pursuing a clear strategic approach with Net Zero Valley.
A diverse energy landscape and new settlements are also creating new fields of employment. At LEAG, we are systematically expanding our capabilities in project development, plant design, operations and maintenance. Partnerships for training and further education with companies such as Deutsche Bahn help to safeguard the region’s skilled labour base. The QLEE education network has also established a structured programme to support personnel transformation in the region.
Municipalities face a wide range of tasks in the context of structural change – from the development of commercial and industrial sites and heat planning to the mobility transition. The GigawattFactory's growing energy portfolio can support these processes, strengthening local development and regional value creation. This requires close cooperation with the federal states, districts, cities and municipalities, as approval processes and key planning decisions remain their responsibility.
Biomass – transformation that grows back
LEAG complements the GigawattFactory with another field of transformation: the switch from fossil fuels to sustainable biomass in heat generation.
LEAG Biomasse GmbH consolidates LEAG's pellet production in Germany and Scandbio's activities in Sweden and Latvia, with a combined annual capacity of almost 1 million tonnes. This already makes LEAG one of the leading pellet suppliers in Europe.
This area supports:
the decarbonisation of heating
industrial applications
households and businesses
the transition to low-carbon fuels