Netherlands-based iron-air long-duration energy storage (LDES) startup Ore Energy has completed a grid-connected pilot of its 100-hour iron-air LDES system at EDF Lab les Renardières in France.

Leading BESS owner-operators across Europe discuss the key trends around the financing and deployment of grid-scale projects, with the segment now the driver of continent-wide deployments according to trade body SolarPower Europe.

European BESS news from project owners Premier Energy Group, Verbund, Eco Stor, Ingrid Capacity, Ric Energy, Ganfeng Lithium, EP Group, RWE and Giga Storage, securing acquisitions, financings and route-to-market (RTM) deals for multiple gigawatts of capacity this past week.

Nearly 70% of the 4.5GW/12.7GWh of grid-scale BESS that came online across the globe last month was in China.

A flurry of BESS news from companies operating across Germany and the Netherlands, with utility Lichtblick launching construction on a 470MWh project in Saxony, Giga Storage inaugurating a project in Amsterdam, and cross-border BESS platform Return raising €300 million.

Europe-based BESS optimisation and flexibility providers Sympower and Suena have completed Series B1 and A fundraisings respectively.

Dutch BESS operator Return has acquired four ready-to-build (RTB) projects in Germany, while agrifood tech and renewables investor N2OFF has added BESS to a solar project it is developing there.

Long-term BESS offtake and PPA deals are clearly on the rise in Europe, but how are they evolving vi-a-vis structures, tenors and regional differences?

Power generation firm RWE has put a BESS in the Netherlands into commercial operation, its first that is capable of providing inertia to the grid.

Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer Giga Storage has closed financing on a 300MW/1,200MWh project in the Netherlands.