The German solar trade association Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW-Solar) has called on the federal government to impose a target of 100GWh of cumulative operational battery energy storage systems (BESS) by 2030.
The announcement was made during the ‘Energy Storage 2025’ event, held in Düsseldorf and online this week, and would be a significant increase over the 22.5GWh of storage currently in operation as of the first half of this year.
BSW-Solar noted that introducing a legal target would help increase storage deployments, and overcome a number of challenges currently facing the German energy transition. According to a survey completed by the trade body and the Munich Storage Fair, 64% of companies active in the sector said that they want to see grid connections accelerated and simplified “most urgently”, and storage has long been touted as a solution to grid connection issues.
The same survey found that 45% of respondents would welcome an extension of the grid fee exemption, currently offered to distributed solar operators, to energy storage systems. Energy storage facilities are currently exempted from paying network tariffs until 2029, an exemption that was extended in 2023, and sustained financial support for storage projects could help realise the BSW-Solar target.
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“The advantages of battery storage are manifold,” said BSW-Solar managing director Carsten Körnig. “Battery storage contributes to the rapid, safe, and cost-effective implementation of the energy transition, to the benefit of both businesses and consumers.”
The trade association has also called for the publication of “non-binding grid connection information” to give project developers more information before submitting a grid request, claiming that there is “consensus in the storage industry” for the release of this information. BSW-Solar also called for the mandating of the digitalisation of grid connection applications, to accelerate and standardise the grid approvals process.
The residential sector has dominated storage additions in Germany in the last five years, with figures from the German Federal Network Agency, and reported by RWTH Aachen University, finding that, as of September 2025, residential storage systems accounted for 18.4GWh of the 22.7GWh of storage currently in operation in the country.
BSW-Solar has also pointed to the deployment of solar PV projects in tandem with these battery facilities as a key component of Germany’s energy future. The Federal Network Agency awarded over half a gigawatt of new solar-plus-storage capacity in an innovation tender held last year, and BSW-Solar reports that, between 2019 and 2023, the percentage of residential rooftop PV systems paired with BESS jumped from 46% to 77%
The trade body pointed to a “significant upward trajectory” in the alignment of solar and storage deployments, and will be optimistic that implementing nationwide targets for the storage sector, as has been done for the solar sector, will help the two industries grow in tandem.
BSW-Solar describes the target of operating 215GW of solar capacity by 2030, and 400GW by 2040, as “realistically achievable”.
