ESS News Magazine

European BESS Gridlock

This ESS News magazine, produced ahead of The smarter E Europe 2026, brings into focus the need for energy storage as a central building block for renewable powered, resilient energy networks.
Across Europe, grids have become saturated with solar and wind. As connection queues stretch out over years and negative price hours rack up, the need for energy storage cannot be overstated.
Markets like Germany and Great Britain have set the stage for innovative business models driving sizable investment in batteries. Others, like Spain, are earlier in the journey but now seeing the opportunity that energy storage presents.

Rising demand has exposed the many complexities of the battery supply chain. After years of oversupply and fierce competition among manufacturers centered in China, a shift in domestic policy is ushering in a new phase for battery manufacturing and leaving projects and factories more exposed to market conditions.
Battery technology is also advancing rapidly. System integrators are looking to maximize density and squeeze more capacity into single containers, while cell makers test different formats in search of the perfect balance between size and performance. And even as the market remains split between different lithium battery chemistries, sodium-ion technology is ready to ramp up.