The launch of a new Energy Storage Coalition has been welcomed by European Commission energy commissioner Kadri Simson.

Europe reached 4.5GW of battery storage capacity last year and could hit 95GW by 2050, according to figures from LCP Delta and Aurora Energy Research respectively.

Green Deal Industrial Plan has been welcomed by the European Association for Storage of Energy, although mentions of energy storage included in a leaked draft seen by the industry group were absent from the final publication.

The European Commission’s plan to lower dependency on Russian gas imports needs to focus on pairing renewable energy with energy storage.

Concern has been expressed about the lack of attention and funding for energy storage in plans for economic recovery and post-pandemic resilience tabled by European Union Member States.

The EU’s latest Clean Energy Package (CEP) is “undoubtedly positive” for energy storage, with the technology expected to play a key role in meeting the legislation’s ambitious “32% by 2030” renewables target, Brittney Elzarei, senior policy officer at trade organisation EASE has said.

In the second part of our interview with Valts Grintals, analyst at Delta-ee we discuss why behind-the-meter energy storage, including commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential installations, contributed so much to the market’s recent success.

Europe’s installed base of electrical energy storage leaped by almost 50% during 2017 but perhaps the bigger takeaway is the growing share of battery systems installed behind-the-meter, an analyst has said.

Only large scale and intelligent energy storage can realistically solve the issue of variable renewable electricity generation. Patrick Clerens, Secretary General at the European Association for Storage of Energy and a member of the advisory board for Electrify Europe, argues that we can make it happen – but only if we get the incentives right.