Unlocking Europe's energy storage potential - highlights from the Global Energy Storage Conference

In this episode, we bring you highlights from the Global Energy Storage Conference held in Brussels, featuring insights from LCP Delta experts Jon Ferris, Faisal Wahid, and Silvestros Vlachopoulos. 

Episode transcript

[00:00:04.680] - Jon Slowe

Welcome to Talking New Energy, a podcast from LCP Delta. I'm Jon Slowe.

[00:00:09.340] - Sandra Trittin

And I'm Sandra Trittin and together we are exploring how the energy transition is unfolding across Europe through conversations with guests from the leading edge of the transition.

[00:00:19.190] - Jon Slowe

Hello and welcome to the episode, a 10 minute bitesize episode where we're going to bring you some highlights of the very grandly named Global Energy Storage Conference that was held in Brussels recently. So, I'm with three colleagues, Jon Ferris, Faisal Wahid and Silvestros, to share some of the key takeaways and mood from the event. Jon, let's start with you. Do you want to give us a summary of, well, energy storage in Europe? Because although it was a global conference, I guess Europe was the main focus.

[00:00:53.690] - Jon Ferris

Yes. The event is organised by the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) and it's fair to say that the European industry is booming. The event was bigger than ever before and the talk was about bigger projects, 100 plus megawatt projects. We're seeing gigawatt projects being announced across Europe now. One of the key questions though, I think was how much will actually be needed and how valuable will it be. A key topic of the session on the Netherlands that I moderated was the discrepancy between the pipeline of 70 gigawatts of projects in the connection queue and tennis modelling that in 2030 they'll need about five.

[00:01:41.690] - Jon Slowe

Huh, that's quite a discrepancy, isn't it? I think in any connection queue you get dormant projects, but that's quite eye watering, that difference. Faisal, from your point of view, what stood out for you?

[00:02:01.870] - Faisal Wahid

So there was actually one key thing, and I think sort of following on from what sort of Jon just mentioned, which is quite exciting, is that the European Union have introduced electricity regulation, which is to sort of do a market design review, and as part of that they have introduced sort of a mandate for assessing how much flexibility each member state needs and what that flexibility looks like. So, what they are doing is publishing at the end of this month or early next month a draft methodology that all the European member States need to use that establishes how they can use this methodology to assess the flexibility that they need. This is really exciting from a modeller such as myself, who's trying to quantify what the value of flexibility, how you deploy that flexibility and what's the feasible pathway, is that it creates a common language for us to be able to describe the problem and be able to describe the different services and technologies that entail flexibility. That then helps us to quantify and put in place sort of analysis and approaches that we can use to help set what that requirement need is and potentially down the line, put in place targets and policies that help us to get there.

[00:03:20.540] - Faisal Wahid

So, it's a good way, a common language for us to kind of accelerate our thinking and ensure confidence in investors and other industry actors on how we are doing this sort of assessing or capturing or getting enough flexibility in the system.

[00:03:38.000] - Jon Slowe

I guess that's just a sign of the sector maturing that you need that commonality, the common structures, common language, as you said, is that generally welcomed by... Are people positive about that? Were there... Is there any scepticism about that? What was the mood around?

[00:03:56.300] - Faisal Wahid

That was mixed, obviously, because it really depends on the details. So, there was a lot of discussion, there was a lot of people who were presenting some interesting ideas and key things to consider. And, I think that's where you want that debate, because you want that all those different viewpoints to come in and help shape what this methodology should be, how we should really be assessing flexibility under a common language. So, I think that was very. What I found relief about lifting was the fact that you had a lot of people in the room who had very different thoughts and very different approaches to how we achieve the flexibility crunch in Europe that you might describe.

[00:04:37.790] - Jon Slowe

I guess one aspect of a common language could be what do we mean by something like long duration energy storage, how long is long? And, it's challenging sometimes to get a common language, isn't it? Because people have different opinions about what long duration energy storage means but it's valuable to have a common framework.

[00:04:58.720] - Faisal Wahid

Exactly. So, an example is where you might have different definitions of long duration storage. So, in the UK you have six hours or more, the Long Duration Energy Storage Council have eight hours or more. And I think in Germany it's 72 hours or more is just as defined. So, it's very, you know, you can see the definitions. Having that common language is very important for us to establish this.

[00:05:21.410] - Jon Slowe

Sure. Silvestros, what stood out for you?

[00:05:25.800] - Silvestros Vlachopoulos

Yeah. So, drawing from experiences and kind of thinking back at previous events, I think it was quite evident that the event is growing every year, I think reflecting how the sector is booming across Europe. And, I don't think it's just a matter of more attendees. I think it was also a wider breadth, let's say, of companies. You could really see a strong presence from Asian manufacturers of battery systems, which were also fairly new members to the association, as far as I could tell. But also, I guess wider companies from different countries who just wanted to see what's happening in Europe. You know, for example, they might be well established in their own country, but they were looking to see where are the next opportunities, what is happening elsewhere and what are the key trends. And, I guess on that topic, I guess also looking back at a lot of the sessions on the event, I would have to say that there I picked up a strong interest for Germany overall. I'm not sure I have some opinions as to why the hype is building up, but it was quite evident in a lot of presentations and discussions, I guess outside the presentations that Germany was a big topic in everyone's discussions.

[00:06:51.660] - Jon Slowe

What's driving that interest in Germany then? Is it volatility? Jon, Faisal Silvestros, chip in with. Is it the need for storage in the German market? Is it the activity that's already there?

[00:07:07.420] - Faisal Wahid

Well, I mean...

[00:07:08.700] - Silvestros Vlachopoulos

Sorry, sorry Faisal, just one comment. I think on that. Overall, the storage section is growing across multiple countries. So, I don't think it's just a matter of this is where the market is growing because it's growing everywhere. I think it's also the type of opportunity that attracts people because they see it as a kind of big opportunity for merchant type projects in other countries. It's quite clear that the market is driven by some subsidy or support schemes that potentially also have a lower upside. So, I think people sometimes enjoy the risk and the potential upside of that. So, it's easier to get attracted by an opportunity like that, let's say.

[00:07:55.820] - Jon Ferris

And for me, in sort of one word, negative wholesale prices was the hot topic that's driving that interest enough to.

[00:08:07.810] - Jon Slowe

Get any flexibility provider excited. Jon?

[00:08:10.380] - Jon Ferris

Yes, get paid to charge your battery was the topic of all it came up in almost every session.

[00:08:19.150] - Jon Slowe

Yeah, yeah.

[00:08:21.020] - Faisal Wahid

And adding to that, what Jon just mentioned is that volatility so very much what stood out to me is the big events that we're seeing happen in Germany where you're seeing very large volatility, which means that a short duration battery that sort of trades within the day can actually capture up to about 50% of its total wholesale value across the year within those periods, if it is able to time and forecast those periods accurately. So, this means that, you know, potentially if you can get your battery on the ground as quickly as possible, you have a very good first mover advantage into a market which is showing a lot of volatility at the moment.

[00:09:01.310] - Jon Slowe

So, I guess it was organised by the European Storage Conference, sorry, European Storage Association. There's still very different national markets across Europe. GB is developed quickly. I've heard the word saturation used when it comes to GB, rightly or wrongly. Jon, you mentioned that long queue of projects in the Netherlands, Germany, we've talked about Italy. Really interesting market, but more subsidy driven, less of a merchant market maybe so while the storage sector is growing across Europe. Certainly some really big nuances between the markets, but a sector that's growing up more and more interest. I heard they've used the same venue for the last few years, but going to have to find a new venue next year probably, or certainly a challenge of space at the event. So, yeah, I think storage's time is... Storage is certainly now a core part of the energy transition and it's great to hear about the takeaways from the event, the excitement to the event, and what is hot on people's minds at the event. Faisal, Jon, Silvestros, thanks very much. We'll draw this bite sized episode to a close now. Thanks for listening and look forward to welcoming you back soon.

[00:10:27.040] - Jon Slowe

Bye bye.

[00:10:28.780] - Sandra Trittin

Thanks for tuning in. We are excited to bring you captivating conversations from the leading edge of Europe's energy transitions. If you've got suggestions for topics or guests for future episodes, please let us know.

[00:10:40.750] - Jon Slowe

And if you're enjoying the podcast, then please do rate it and share it with colleagues. For show notes, transcripts and more, please visit lcpdelta.com.