A trio of European BESS announcements, with Merus Power securing an order in Finland and IPPs Metlen and Aquila Clean Energy EMEA winning government financial support for projects in Italy and Portugal respectively.

Europe’s energy storage industry and key stakeholders arrive in London for the 2025 Energy Storage Summit EU in just a few days.

Portugal has selected 43 winning BESS projects for a share of €100 million (US$105 million) in EU grants while, on the other side of Europe, Moldova has launched a 75MW BESS procurement with funding from USAID.

A roundup of energy storage news from across the EU, involving Polar Night Energy’s ‘Sand Battery’ in Finland, GazelEnergie and Q Energy in France, and Spain’s MITECO awarding financial support to 45 projects.

The deadline has now passed for Bulgaria’s EU-backed support scheme for standalone energy storage, and the bids submitted amount to four times the available capital available.

The energy ministries of Bulgaria and Romania have both revealed the results of EU-backed tenders for renewables and energy storage, with gigawatts of energy storage being supported.

Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto has signed a decree allowing Italy to proceed with its energy storage capacity market auction, known as MACSE, in the first half of 2025.

Lithuania can move ahead with a scheme to provide €180 million (US$200 million) in grants to energy storage projects after it was approved by the EU.

The EU could save €9 billion a year in gas costs by deploying BESS to capture excess wind and solar, according to think tank Ember.

The EU’s security requirements for energy assets including energy storage are increasing as the risks grow, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).