Operational experience, credibility and optimisation performance are becoming key to BESS bankability, writes Jürgen Mayerhofer, CEO and co-founder of optimiser Enspired.
Europe’s battery storage market has matured rapidly. In recent years, industry conversations have often focused on contracted capacity, pipeline announcements and modelled revenue potential. But as more large-scale assets move into live operation, attention is shifting away from headline megawatts and towards what ultimately matters most: measurable performance and bankable returns.
Contracted capacity alone doesn’t guarantee debt repayment — ultimately, real revenues do. The market is increasingly focused on what is actually in operation, what it is earning, and how that compares to expectations set during financing. Investors, lenders, and asset owners are asking a far more serious question: what is delivering measurable returns in live market conditions? Recent independent market analysis has reinforced this shift from headline capacity to operational performance.
Eight-figure business cases have often relied on modelled revenue assumptions and projected optimisation shares. As the market evolves — with Flexible Connection Agreements (FCA), dynamic grid fees, co-location, transparency requirements, and additional revenue streams — optimisation is becoming increasingly central to how value is captured in practice.
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Lenders are increasingly focused on assets with demonstrable operational proof.
What matters now is: megawatts in operation, transparent performance records, and audited, repeatable performance in live markets. In a tightening capital environment, credibility has become currency — and only operational experience can earn it.
Forecasts are necessary — but they are not enough
Bankable forecasts remain an essential part of project financing. They combine market fundamentals, regulatory outlooks, and price expectations to estimate long-term revenue potential. But forecasts are still just forecasts.
They are only as strong as the assumptions behind them — and they cannot demonstrate how an asset performs when markets behave unpredictably, volatility spikes, or operational constraints appear. This is where the gap lies.
Backtests may show what a battery could have earned historically. But they are easy to overstate, easy to cherry-pick, and impossible to audit in the way lenders increasingly require. Real world is different. It shows what an asset is earning now — in today’s market — with real dispatch decisions and real operational complexity.
A bankable optimiser is becoming the missing link
To secure financing at scale, Europe’s BESS market needs more than forecasts. It needs optimisation platforms that can connect projections with operational truth. A bankable optimiser provides transparent methodology, real portfolio performance data, independently verifiable revenue delivery, resulting in confidence that forecasts are grounded in reality.
New market entrants can assume that optimisation performance is primarily defined by technology. This is true to a certain extent. In reality, the journey starts much earlier — before a project reaches Ready-to-Build (RTB) status — through discussions with grid operators, analysing the impact of Flexible Connection Agreements (FCAs), negotiating performance expectations, and aligning optimisation potential with integrators. While technology is a key part of the equation, the supporting services and operational experience around it can make a significant difference in real-world outcomes.
In short: forecasts establish feasibility — but operational performance determines long-term bankability. In 2026, optimisation is not a technical detail at the end of the value chain. It plays a central role in revenue resilience, debt serviceability, cost of capital, and long-term competitiveness.
As European markets evolve, value is increasingly defined by flexibility, speed of response, and the ability to monetise complexity across revenue streams. This is no longer about theoretical multi-market participation — it is about consistent execution under real market conditions.
The question is no longer whether batteries can optimise across markets. The question is whether they can do it consistently, transparently, and at scale — in a way that investors and lenders can underwrite with confidence.
Revenue structures are becoming more sophisticated
As projects grow, so do financing expectations. Asset owners are increasingly combining structures such as:
- Tolling agreements, offering contracted stability
- Floor mechanisms and swaps, providing partial downside protection
- Hybrid approaches, balancing predictability with merchant upside
The optimal mix depends on risk appetite, leverage requirements, and market exposure. But across every structure, one truth remains: financing follows performance.
Operational results are becoming the benchmark
The European battery storage market is moving away from speculative performance claims toward meaningful indicators, such as verified optimisation results, portfolio-level operating history, and revenue delivery under real conditions.
These signals allow lenders to validate forecast assumptions, strengthen credit confidence, and finance assets with greater precision.
In a crowded market, differentiation increasingly comes from demonstrated operational performance rather than pipeline size alone. Financing decisions are ultimately based on credible, repeatable revenue delivery — not projections in isolation.
Europe’s battery sector has moved beyond potential. In 2026, bankability will not be defined by projections alone, but by the ability to deliver real, transparent, and optimised revenues from live assets — because ultimately, financing follows performance.
Featured image: Render of a BESS in Germany that Enspired, along with Entelios, will optimise for owner Eco Stor. Image: Eco Stor.
About the author
Jürgen Mayerhofer is CEO and co-founder of Austria-headuqarted BESS optimiser Enspired, which has established strong positions in Germany and Austria and is now expanding internationally.
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