European battery storage installations set a new record in 2024 with 21.9 GWh added, bringing total capacity to 61.1 GWh despite a slowdown in growth to 15 percent after three consecutive years of doubling capacity.
A report from Solar Power Europe urges policymakers to prioritize battery storage through an EU Energy Storage Action Plan to ensure grid flexibility, especially after the Iberian Peninsula blackout. The report projects a 36 percent growth in 2025, reaching 29.7 GWh, with a six-fold increase by 2029 to 120 GWh, though still below the 780 GWh needed by 2030 to support a fully renewable system.
Key recommendations include market harmonization, grid connection reform, fair market access for BESS, competitive balancing markets, and enhanced smart metering standards. Utility-scale projects are expected to dominate 2025 installations as home batteries drop to 33 percent of the market, with commercial and industrial (C&I) storage seeing modest gains.
Germany remains the top market despite a residential slump, Italy rises on large-scale projects, the UK faces temporary delays, and Austria and Sweden grow strongly in C&I and residential segments.
Spain
Spain, despite a 41 percent decline in 2024 installations, is poised to become a top-5 market in 2025 with a projected 1.3 GWh of utility-scale solar additions.
Spain’s battery storage market declined by 41 percent in 2024, with less than 250 MWh installed, mostly in residential and commercial segments, making it the 14th largest market in Europe. Despite the ongoing decline since 2022, Spain is projected to become a top-5 market in 2025 with 1.3 GWh of solar installations driven by utility-scale projects. By the end of 2024, Spain had the fifth largest battery storage capacity in Europe at 1.7 GWh, 90 percent of which is small scale.
GreentechLead.com News Desk