RWE has taken a final investment decision (FID) on 400MW/1.1GWh BESS in the Netherlands with construction to start in due course, while Giga Storage has started building its 2.8GWh Green Turtle project in Belgium.

The transition of battery energy storage systems (BESS) from development to operations remains fraught with technical gaps and communication breakdowns.

We hear from the BESS lead at RWE Renewables Europe & Australia ahead of the Energy Storage Summit Germany 2026, discussing the major trends, challenges and opportunities in the country’s grid-scale storage market. 

RWE has launched construction on a 236MW/470MWh BESS in Germany, while IPP Kallista has done the same on a 193MW/386MWh system in France, supplied by Envision Energy.

Activity in Italy’s grid-scale market is accelerating, with Sonnedix and the Strioga Family Foundation acquiring projects totalling over 1GWh combined, while BNZ and RWE have ordered BESS from Sungrow and LONGi respectively totalling 540MWh.

RWE Renewables Australia has officially opened the 50MW/400MWh Limondale battery energy storage system (BESS) near Balranald in south-west New South Wales.

RWE has received official sign-off from the AEMO and Transgrid to operate Australia’s first 8-hour BESS at full capacity.

Large-scale BESS projects have been progressed in Italy, Romania, Germany, Poland, Denmark and elsewhere in Europe, totalling around 1GW under construction, 1GWh soon to be, and another 1GWh at earlier stages.

Power firm RWE has partnered with distributed battery storage firm Polarium for a battery-based virtual power plant (VPP) in Germany.

According to a representative from sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery energy storage system (BESS) startup Peak Energy, the company will pilot a 3.1MWh system at Energy firm RWE’s Eastern Wisconsin, US lab.