EU Roundup: Axpo and e-Storage partner in Italy, RES secures Nordic asset management deal, R.Power sells Poland BESS to Engie

According to the companies, the Rizziconi project addresses conditions in southern Italy where increasing solar generation frequently surpasses grid absorption capacity by midday.

Battery systems that store excess generation and release it during later periods are essential for managing this dynamic. Calabria has historically experienced higher electricity costs and less robust grid connectivity compared to northern Italy, making local flexibility valuable.

The project also marks e-Storage’s first project in Italy, and the companies intend to continue working together, forming a “broader relationship”.

Italy’s energy storage capacity was expanded last year. On 1 October 2025, transmission system operator (TSO) Terna announced the results of the country’s energy storage-focused capacity auction scheme, the Meccanismo di Approvvigionamento di Capacità di Stoccaggio Elettrico (MACSE), procuring 10GWh of energy storage capacity for Italy.

E-Storage and Axpo have both previously been active in Europe. In December 2023, e-Storage signed a deal with international utility and independent power producer (IPP) Engie for two separate 50MW/100MWh BESS projects in the UK.

In May of this year, IPP R.Power selected Axpo to optimise a 300MW/1,200MWh BESS in Poland, one of the largest deals of its kind in Continental Europe, while Axpo is also deploying its own own-operate projects in the Nordics and in Switzerland.

RES secures BESS asset management contract in Sweden

UK-headquartered multinational renewables developer and EPC provider RES Group has signed an asset management agreement (AMA) for the 70MW Ange BESS in Ånge municipality, Sweden.

The AMA was signed with developer Delta Capacity AG and Czech investment group Wood & Company, which acquired the project from RES as a fully ready-to-build asset.

According to RES, the full-scope agreement covers technical, commercial and financial asset management services as the project moves into operational phase. RES will draw on its in-house engineering experience to help ensure ongoing performance optimisation, protect revenue and extend the asset lifecycle.

In April, Centrica Energy the energy trading and optimisation arm of UK energy major Centrica, said it had signed an optimisation agreement with Ånge Storage Solutions, the joint venture (JV) between Wood & Co and Delta Capacity, for the BESS project.

RES highlighted that the AMA represents its first full-scope BESS asset management agreement the company has signed in the Nordics.

The Ange BESS is adjacent to the Björnberget wind farm and near the Alby Hydrogen project in Ånge municipality. It will provide flexibility and balancing services to the Swedish national grid.

The company also claimed that Ånge BESS is the largest battery storage system in operation in the Nordics. Sweden-headquartered BESS developer-operator Ingrid Capacity, in April, received construction permits for the 100MW/400MWh Vaggeryd and 100MW/200MWh Horsaryd projects in Sweden. Vaggeryd would be the first major four-hour BESS in Sweden.

Asset management contracts of this scale remain uncommon, or at least rarely announced, in Europe. In May, BayWa r.e., the renewables development division of the BayWa conglomerate, announced it would manage and maintain the 137MW/282MWh Alfeld project in Germany, which will become the country’s largest battery storage facility upon commissioning.

R.Power agrees to sell Poland BESS to Engie

IPP R.Power has closed an agreement to sell one of the largest utility-scale BESS projects in Poland to Engie Zielona Energia, part of French utility and power group Engie.

The 250MW/1GWh Tursko Wielkie BESS has achieved ready-to-build status and construction is expected to begin at the beginning of 2027, with commissioning scheduled by the end of 2028.

The companies claim that the Tursko Wielkie project is located in a strategically advantageous position in southeastern Poland. It will be connected directly to the Połaniec power substation.

The Połaniec power substation hub plays a key role in the transmission architecture of southeastern Poland. The presence of a utility-scale BESS at the substation will allow for more efficient power flow management and help provide relief to the transmission infrastructure in the region. 

In December 2025, Poland awarded capacity market (CM) contracts to 685MW of BESS capacity, a significant decline from 2.5GW in 2024. This reduction was largely attributed to a substantial decrease in the de-rating factor for battery systems to 13%, down from 60% in 2024 and 95% in 2023, according to executives from Harmony Energy’s Poland division and consultancy Arthur D. Little.

The de-rating factor, also known as the ‘correction availability factor’, limits the portion of a project’s capacity that can be bid into auctions and is intended to reflect a technology’s reliability when dispatched.

Earlier this month, R.Power secured financing for a 150MW/300MWh BESS project in Jedwabno, Poland. The company claimed it as the largest project finance agreement signed for utility-scale BESS in Poland to-date.

R.Power’s head of BESS Laurens Vanochten and CCO Rafal Hajduk outlined the company’s energy storage activities and strategy, including procurement approaches, in a video interview at the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in February (ESN Premium access).