The expert judges’ difficult decisions to select winners from hundreds of worthy entries for the Energy Storage Awards 2026 are almost finalised.

Infrastructure investor Actis has entered the Polish energy storage market with the acquisition of two large-scale projects from DTEK’s DRI, while R.Power and Solax have announced project updates in the country. 

BESS owner-operator BW ESS has launched construction on its second large-scale project in Italy in the space of a month, while developers Galileo and Aura Power have progressed portfolios in the country. 

Sustainable infrastructure investor Actis’s renewable energy platform in Japan has closed financing on a 50MW/196MWh battery storage project.

UAE state-owned renewables company Masdar has partnered with Germany’s Luxcara for battery storage and wind energy projects.

Australia’s BESS market evolves from physical tolls to commoditised contracts as spreads compress & investor return expectations rise to 14%.

Casey Keller, founding partner at Caerus Commodities, shares critical lessons from optimising battery storage, ahead of the 2026 US Battery Asset Management Summit taking place in California on 15-16 September.

This year has seen a shift in the financing environment for merchant BESS projects in Germany for the worse.

Japanese utility Tokyo Gas has entered into a long-term offtake agreement for a 49.7MW/202.1MWh battery storage project in Fukushima Prefecture.

With the Energy Storage Awards 2026 entry deadline less than two months away, we speak to four judges to hear what they are looking for from successful entrants.