We caught up with developer and IPP Greenvolt Power’s head of storage Antonio Montoto Rojo about the recent MACSE auction in Italy, where it won a contract for a 75MW BESS.
The low prices and strict operational requirements in Italy’s recent MACSE auction for BESS have brought asset management and operational execution into the spotlight.
The low level of the MACSE tariffs in Italy took everyone by surprise and will require careful asset management, but their relative value and those of the capacity market (CM) should increase over time.
The TSO of Italy has completed its first MACSE auctions for energy storage, procuring 10GWh of capacity at what the NHOA CEO called ‘exceptionally competitive prices’.
IPP EP Produzione has ordered 220MWh of BESS from inverter and energy storage firm Sungrow in Italy, with a storage-focused capacity auction scheme just 11 days away.
Private equity firm KKR’s investment vehicle ContourGlobal has acquired BESS projects in Italy totalling 1.6GW of power and up to 9.5GWh of capacity, with an eye on the MACSE auctions in September.
Italy and Spain are set to soar as energy storage markets with multiple gigawatt-hours under construction and much more in the pipeline, but there are questions around the regulatory frameworks driving deployments in each country.
The grid-scale energy storage market in Italy holds much promise with very ambitious deployment targets for 2030, but it may be difficult for the industry to deliver on those targets.
