The European Commission has approved €19.8 million (US$20.1 million) in state aid from the government of Croatia to energy storage operator IE-Energy for a series of grid-connected projects.

The EU has approved a plan by the government in Greece to put €341 million towards a 900MW energy storage pipeline, under its state aid rules.

Construction has begun on the first of four battery energy storage systems (BESS) totalling 200MW/200MWh from global system integrator Fluence in Lithuania.

Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy, The European Associate for Storage of Energy (EASE), Solar Power Europe and Wind Europe have together called on the European Commission to recognise energy storage’s crucial role for the security of energy supply in Europe.

Iberdrola has switched on a multi-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) in rural Spain that will enable up to five hours of backup power to local networks in the event of an outage.

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.

Timed to coincide with this week’s EU elections, a set of 10 recommendations to “kick start” energy storage has been unveiled by European trade association EASE.

Expert briefing held six weeks before the Brexit deadline explores strategies for UK energy players to counter price volatility under a no-deal scenario

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.

In the past week, developer RES Group has just got a front-of-meter battery project underway for a utility company in northern Germany, while storage system provider Tesvolt has just signed a deal with another utility in the European country to distribute energy storage behind-the-meter for commercial customers.