The government of South Africa has signed commercial close agreements for two large-scale BESS projects totalling 720MWh, allowing project backers Scatec and a consortium of CIP and EDF to proceed with construction.

Flexibility will be a critical piece of the grid of the future and energy storage will play a central role in that, keynote speakers said at Solar Media’s Energy Storage Summit Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) 2024 today.

BESS developer-operator Giga Storage has agreed a time-limited grid usage contract with Netherlands’ TSO TenneT, the first of its kind, the firm claimed.

Lion Storage has received a construction permit for a 347MW/1,457MW BESS project while Giga Storage hopes to start construction on a similarly sized one this year, representing a major step forward for the grid-scale energy storage market in the Netherlands.

The regulator in Germany has given the green light to transmission system operator (TSO) Amprion’s five ‘decentralised grid booster’ BESS projects, totalling 250MW.

Italy grid-scale energy storage market opportunities unlike anywhere else, but many challenges and uncertainties around the different revenue streams remain, including the upcoming MACSE capacity market auction.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) were awarded 655.16MW in the UK’s T-1 Capacity Market Auction for delivery year 2024/25, which cleared yesterday (20 February) after eight rounds at £35.79 (US$45.17)/kW/year.

The Dutch municipality of Noordoostpolder has submitted a draft zoning plan for one of the first gigawatt-hour scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the Netherlands.

The European Union (EU) Commission has approved a state aid scheme aiming to fund the rollout of over 9GW/71GWh of energy storage in Italy.

A roundup of long-duration energy storage (LDES) news from around the world this week.