“We will help scale up subsidies for non-fossil flexibility technologies, such as storage,” a Commission spokesperson told POLITICO, adding that the EU executive would also “adopt new rules” to “address the remaining barriers that prevent storage from valuing their services in the [EU’s] electricity market.”
But Brussels still needs a broader energy storage vision, Tosoni argued, with an earlier EU-wide target that gives the industry “investment certainty.”
The Commission, Tosoni added, should also scrap tax rules that charge battery operators twice — once for storing energy, and again for sending it back to the grid. Tosoni had a few other requests, including quicker permitting and revised national regulations to better address the emerging energy storage sector.
It’s also about fostering new technologies. Dutch startup Aquabattery, for example, is working on a battery that stores energy by splitting saltwater into an acid and alkaline solution, which can theoretically store energy for an unlimited amount of time.
But for storage technology to gain broad traction, the EU must harmonize storage regulations across different countries, said Janneke Gi-Stuijfzand, the firm’s chief commercial officer. “Some sort of support scheme” to help them scale up “could help” too, she said.
Back in Vilvoorde, Engie’s Alen agrees more needs to be done — fast.
“Governments must take care to put in place the right rules to allow the development of such types of energy storage,” he said, against a backdrop of empty spots where new battery containers will soon be slotted into place with large cranes.
If they don’t, he warns, it will lead to “high costs, not only for … industry but also for consumers down the line.”