Who won at the Energy Storage Awards 2025?

Perhaps even more significantly, Fluence’s work with Ukrainian energy investor DTEK on the latter’s 200MW/400MWh portfolio of BESS, providing vital grid services in the war-torn country, was recognised with the Best Overall European Energy Storage Project award.

DTEK, which holds Ukraine’s biggest portfolio of energy generation assets and is now developing battery projects in other countries, including Poland, won the Developer of the Year award.  

Meanwhile, Energy Dome, the designer, manufacturer, and holder of the IP for its carbon dioxide-based CO2 Battery technology, won the Long-Duration Energy Storage Company of the Year (LDES Company of the Year) award. It also took home the inaugural prize in that category in 2024.

“Energy Dome is recognised for its innovative, non-lithium CO2 Battery technology, with a 20MW/200MWh commercial project operational in Italy and a strong global pipeline, though its focus is primarily on the US market,” judges said.

“The company excels in commercial maturity, execution, and leadership, offering both storage-as-a-service and ownership models, and is backed by major investors.”

EDF took its second consecutive Trading and Optimisation Team of the Year award, and had the company not finished a close second to Habitat Energy in the first ESAs in 2023, would have been celebrating the hat-trick.

The team at EDF Wholesale Market Services, to give its full name, would have consoled, however, by taking home the Breakthrough R&D / Innovation of the Year. EDF’s entry demonstrated the real-world applications of its trading and optimisation (T&O) platform, which judges described as “a leading platform for BESS asset owners, with a strong focus on breaking down barriers for new customers.”

The ceremony took place last Thursday (20 November) at the Park Plaza Hotel on the South Bank of the River Thames, attended by more than 300 industry hopefuls in their finest evening wear.

Hosted annually by our publisher Solar Media, the event brought the industry together to celebrate, with entrants from the UK, Europe and beyond.

After an exclusive live set of comedy from national television and podcasting star Tiff Stevenson, the audience was treated to a procession of well-deserved winners, Highly Commended runners-up, and, of course, shortlisted nominees as they broke bread together and enjoyed an evening of good-natured, sometimes a little raucous, competitive fun.

While Fluence took the top System Integrator ESA 2025 home, rivals were also strongly represented through award wins: most prominently Wärtsilä, which was named on two winning entries via project collaborations with UK developer-investor Zenobē Energy and also NHOA Energy, which took home the EPC Firm of the Year prize.

Zenobē Energy’s Blackhillock grid-forming BESS in Scotland, UK, was a triple winner, recognised as Grid-Scale Standalone Energy Storage Project of the Year, and Best Project over 100MW in both UK and European categories.

Blackhillock is being built in phases, up to a total 300MW/600MWh when complete and this meant it was also eligible in 2023, when Zenobē, a former Developer of the Year winner in 2024, took home the Best UK Project Over 100MW trophy for it.

On NHOA Energy, judges commented that the company has built an “impressive profile” through an extensive pipeline and projects of growing scale in multiple regions worldwide.

WinES takes first-ever Diversity & Inclusion Award

Rutwij Hoshing, investment manager at UK energy storage investor Gore Street Capital won the Rising Star award for industry professionals under 30, with judges acclaiming Hoshing’s “exceptional early-career milestones, including pioneering US IRA tax credit transactions, securing rare California contracts, and scaling a storage portfolio from 9MW to 900MW, with global impact through M&A and £150 million-plus (US$196 million-plus) raised in debt.”

Outstanding Contribution to Energy Storage was awarded to Vidyadhar Rangojoo, principal electrical engineer and a founding team member at Fluence, credited with making a significant contribution to establishing and growing the company’s global industry platform.

Rangojoo also has a “track record of pioneering first-of-their-kind energy storage deployments across continents,” judges said.

“Vidyadhar Rangojoo has made foundational contributions to technical innovation, industry standards, and mentorship, supporting clean energy reliability and training the next generation.”

This year’s inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Award was handed to Women in Energy Storage Network (WinES), the UK-based cross-industry initiative to bring together “significant support from multiple companies to promote gender diversity in the energy storage sector, empowering women in an industry where they are often underrepresented.”

Judges said WinES “has successfully connected a large number of women, with participation from top companies and influential leaders, and serves as a model for creating a more inclusive industry. The initiative is highly praised and has the potential to expand beyond the UK.”

For the complete list of winners, visit the official event website.