A busy week of large-scale BESS projects news from the Eastern side of Europe, with projects reaching commissioning, final investment decision, technology procurement and acquisition, led by KNESS’ 2GWh partnership with Hithium in Ukraine.
The battery energy storage system (BESS) news headlines are:
- Hithium has entered into a 2GWh partnership with KNESS for Ukraine deployments, with a 400MWh initial order
- YESS Power has commissioned a 60MWh BESS in North Macedonia
- PPC Renewables will add a 60MWh BESS to a Romanian wind project
- Diotech OÜ and Transcom AS have started building a 100MW/200MWh project in Estonia
- BREP has launched construction on a hybrid solar-storage project with a 250MWh BESS in Estonia
- Alight has made a series of solar-storage acquisitions, including a 30MW BESS, in Finland
- Merus Power has landed an 80MWh BESS order for a Finland project
They come with less than a week to go before the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London next week.
Hithium and KNESS 2GWh Ukraine partnership
China-based lithium-ion OEM Hithium has signed a cooperation framework agreement with utility and power firm KNESS Group, for 2GWh of BESS capacity in Ukraine over the next two years. Around 400MWh of that is scheduled for initial delivery in the current quarter (Q1 2026).
Try Premium for just $1
- Full premium access for the first month at only $1
- Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
- Cancel anytime during the trial period
Premium Benefits
- Expert industry analysis and interviews
- Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
- Exclusive event discounts
Or get the full Premium subscription right away
Or continue reading this article for free
Hithium said that the co-operation covers multiple different durations and will utilise both its 5MWh and 6.25MWh products. The company launched its latest BESS products in 2025, including a 2,000Ah cell designed for long-duration energy storage (LDES).
It follows KNESS securing state-owned bank financing for a project in March last year, although this latest pipeline is of a much larger scale. The company is one of the two main companies deploying BESS at scale in Ukraine, along with another power group DTEK, which has used system integrator Fluence.
Projects are for now mainly providing critical ancillary services to grid operator Ukrenergo, which has had to deal with regular grid outages due to targeted Russian attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Hithium signed a similar 2GWh supply agreement with investor Renalfa for projects in the Eastern Europe region in September.
EPC firm YESS Power commissions North Macedonia project
Turkey-based YESS Power has completed and commissioned a solar-plus-storage project with a 30MW/60MWh BESS in North Macedonia, among the largest in the country.
The BESS technology was provided by China-based Cubenergy, while Mey Energy is the investment firm behind the project.
The North Macedonia government recently approved a plan for the deployment of 4.42GW of new power generation capacity, mainly solar, but also wind, gas and over 2GW of energy storage.
Greek state-owned PPC adding BESS to Romania wind farm
PPC Renewables Romania, part of the Greek state-owned Public Power Corporation (PPC), has revealed plans to install a 60.12MWh BESS at its Sălbatica 1 wind farm. The project in Romania totals RON68.2 million (€15.7 million) of investment.
Around one-sixth of that investment will be covered by a grant from the European Union’s Modernization Fund. By the end of 2025, the Fund has earmarked €1.2 billion (US$1.42 billion) for clean energy investments in Romania (out of a total €20 billion across the EU over five years).
Alongside the funding programme, Romanai has also taken regulatory measures to help storage deployments, including removing so-called ‘double-charging’ of storage for charging and discharging on the grid.
PPC meanwhile is building three large-scale BESS projects in Greece, as well as two pumped hydro units, all-in-all totalling 860MW of power.
Construction start on 100MW/200MWh Estonia project
Project investors Diotech and Transcom are launching construction on a 100MW/200MWh BESS facility in Tsirguliina, Valga County, Estonia. It was acquired from developer LignaMets.
Called Project Zirgu, it is the largest ‘100% Estonian capital-based battery industrial park’, the firms said.
The 100MW/200MWh build is just the first phase, set for completion by March 2027 latest, of a project which could eventually total 200MW/800MWh.
Phase one requires an investment of €35 million, although offers from Estonian banks for co-financing are being considered.
Diotech is also developing a 900MWh BESS project in Poland in cooperation with lithium-ion OEM LG Energy Solution, which has a lithium-ion and BESS factory there. It didn’t say explicitly, but it implied LG is providing the tech for the Estonia project too.
…and soon to start on a co-located 250MWh one
A 77.5MW PV power plant in Estonia is to be co-located with a 55MW/250MWh BESS to create what is claimed will be the country’s largest hybrid project.
Developer Evecon and investment manager Mirova, through their jointly owned Baltic Renewable Energy Platform (BREP), have also concluded, they say, the Baltic region’s first flexibility and power purchase agreement (FPPA) under a 10-year deal with Pure Energy.
The hybrid project will combine Evecon’s Kirikmäe solar PV plant, commissioned in 2024, with a 250MWh BESS under construction since the start of 2026. WiSo Engineering is the EPC contractor for the BESS element, with Chinese firm Huawei supplying the batteries, power conversion equipment and medium-voltage components.
As reported by Energy-Storage.news, Evecon and Mirova, along with French independent power producer (IPP) Corsica Sole, are partners in another joint venture, Baltic Storage Platform, which recently inaugurated a 100MW/200MWh BESS in Estonia. The Hertz 1 project will be joined by a second BESS of the same size, Hertz 2, which is due for completion later this year.
See the full original version of this article on PV Tech.
Alight buys co-located solar and storage in Finland
IPP Alight has acquired two solar-plus-storage projects in Finland, totalling 225MW of power capacity. One of those is a 75MW project with the building permit for a 30MW BESS, and is targeting 2028 operations, while the other appears to be solar-only.
It acquired the project from 3Flash, with which it is also collaborating on a 120MW solar, 45MW BESS, also in Finland.
Four years ago the firm added a 2MWh BESS to a solar project in Sweden.
Merus Power 80MWh order
System integrator and power solutions firm Merus Power has signed a 30MW/80MWh Finland BESS deal with Neve Oy, a multi-sector group owned by the city of Rovaniemi. The project will be delivered to the site by the end of 2026.
Merus Power is responsible for the manufacture, installation, and testing of the energy storage system. The firm is one of the most active in the Finnish domestic market, and in mid-2025 commissioned a 38MW grid-forming BESS for the project owners, private equity firm Ardian and utility Lappeenrannan Energia.
