ESN Premium speaks with Anna Darmani, energy storage analyst at Wood Mackenzie, about Europe’s sector evolution.

As Europe’s BESS industry matures, project owner-operators are taking on more control – and risk – when it comes to procuring technology and services for their projects.

Developer Lion Storage has successfully reached financial close on a 1.4GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) set to be developed in the Netherlands.

A total of 5.2GW/13.8GWh of grid-scale BESS capacity came online in January 2025, of which over two thirds was in China.

BESS developer-operator S4 Energy has put a 4-hour duration project online in the Netherlands, the first in the country to become operational.

Netherlands-based system integrator Alfen has been revealed as the supplier for a 31.6MW/126.4MWh BESS currently under construction.

Utility Eneco will optimise a BESS project in the Netherlands that, at 31.6MW/126.4MWh, will be the country’s largest when it comes online before the end of the year.

Dispatch has begun construction on a 45MW/90MWh battery storage project in the Netherlands, with Macquarie among its backers.

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.

Castleton Commodities International LLC (CCI) subsidiary S4 Energy has acquired Netherlands BESS development platform LC Energy, and its 6GW pipeline of projects, from developer Low Carbon.