Unlocking Profitable Utility-Scale Bess in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities in the Spot Market

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Recording of Tuesday, May 06, 2025 | The smarter E Europe Conferences 2025 | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 18:23 .

European Battery Storage Market Faces Revenue Opportunities and Political Hurdles Amidst Spot Market Volatility

The presentation explores the energy trading spot market, emphasizing batteries as a key revenue source. Rystad Energy provides insights into this sector with its comprehensive data analytics approach. The focus is on Europe's transition to renewables like solar and wind, which constituted 25% of generated energies last year and are expected to exceed 50% by 2035, necessitating enhanced battery storage flexibility. In China’s competitive landscape for DC block systems, bids range from $200 to below $50 per kilowatt hour due to competition pressures leading some players towards negative margins. Globally, advancements have reduced battery project capex below $300/kWh while extending cycle life over ten years or more than 10k cycles—resulting in LCOS around €90/MWh when cycled daily—a notable drop from previous costs near €140/MWh two-three years ago aligning closely with current European power prices enabling profitable business cases via strategic cycling frequency adjustments amidst evolving PPA trends where contracted agreements have doubled recently indicating growing interest despite challenges faced earlier within this domain. Energy trading dynamics highlight merchant revenues' high-risk/high-return potential contrasted against stable long-term income through contracted revenues beneficial for financing projects; average revenue was about €120 per MWh in 2023 with projections increasing alongside renewable shares rising further in subsequent years benefiting developers more than producers due mainly because volatility offers arbitrage opportunities especially under conditions such as Hungary's limited capacity causing significant fluctuations versus UK's saturated markets flattening profits extensively utility-scale installations already present there often resulting negatively priced excesses daytime/nighttime productions combined inflexible nuclear baseloads advantageous operators engaging effectively across these volatile environments forecasted sustain until at least mid-decade regions including Germany/Hungary suggesting continued lucrative possibilities though varying payback periods influenced capital expenditure levels ($250 vs.$200 kW/h). Enhancing business case involves incorporating ancillary services emerging virtual inertia quantifying remains challenge given forecasting limitations future pricing control markets Kronos software mentioned German context simulations specific settings scheduling phases dispatch optimization additional signals gauging selection rates estimating share capture historical data informing valuations based bid selections’ frequencies Dries Acker Solar Power Europe positively reflects notes political underrepresentation EU introduces advocacy initiative Battery Storage Platform aimed bolstering support necessary realizing projected benefits fully.

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Speaker

Sepehr Soltani
Senior Analyst
Rystad Energy
Norway

Talk of session: Future Trends: How Will the Market Develop, Which Applications Will Become Relevant?

What are emerging trends in battery storage? How are installation numbers evolving across the residential, C&I, and utility-scale battery markets? What new and existing applications are driving market growth? What can we learn from developments in other regions, such as the UK, and what insights can be applied to the European market? These are the questions that will be explored in this session.

Further Talks of this session:

Welcome and Introduction

Speaker

Dr. Alexander Hirnet
Vice President Device Development
sonnen GmbH
Germany

To Talk

Drivers for an Accelerated Deployment of Battery Storage Systems in Europe

Speaker

Antonio Arruebo
Market Analyst
SolarPower Europe
Belgium

To Talk

Tackling Merchant Risk - Overview of Europe Energy Storage Offtake Market

Speaker

Anna Darmani
Principal Analyst, Energy Storage Europe
Wood Mackenzie
United Kingdom

To Talk

Unlocking New Revenue Streams for Battery Storage in Europe

Speaker

Simon De Clercq
Senior Associate
Aurora Energy Research
Germany

To Talk

Q&A and Panel Discussion

To Talk

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