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.

A flurry of major grid-scale BESS news in Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and France about projects which could all be described as the largest in those countries.

Construction is underway on a 100MWh thermal energy storage project in Finland, using the same ‘Sand Battery’ technology as a 8MWh system which came online in 2022.

UB Renewable Energy Fund (AIF) has acquired a 30MW/60MWh BESS project in Finland on which it will start construction in Spring 2025.

Aquila Clean Energy has launched construction on a 50MW BESS in Finland, while MW Storage has launched two new projects in the country.

Developer OX2 and L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund have agreed a deal for a 2-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) in Finland.

We hear from Gresham House and optimisers Capalo AI and Flower on the BESS industry’s move away from merchant-only models towards more contracted revenues.

Swiss investment fund and project development vehicle MW Storage has contracted Fluence to supply and integrate a 20MW battery storage asset in Finland.

Startup Capalo AI will optimise a Finland BESS project owned by investor Ardian while Merus Power, which is providing the BESS for that project, has received a separate order from Switzerland’s Alpiq for a similarly sized one.