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Germany, GB, the Ireland I-SEM, and Poland top four markets for renewables and battery co-location in Europe

Co-locating Batteries with Solar PV

 

  • Germany, Great Britain, the Ireland I-SEM, and Poland emerge as the top four European markets for renewables co-location.
  • Regulatory disparities exist across EU markets, with markets often lacking specific policy schemes related to co-location, Aurora’s inaugural European Renewables Co-location Report highlights.
  • Spain, Netherlands, and France are identified as markets with particularly promising policy developments currently under debate.

 

OXFORD (AURORA ENERGY RESEARCH)—Aurora Energy Research, the leading global provider power market analytics, has released its inaugural European Renewables Co-location Report, examining 12 European countries. Germany, Great Britain, the Ireland I-SEM, and Poland are the top four markets for co-location within Europe.

Aurora predicts an additional 421 GW of intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (RES) capacity by 2030, posing significant risks to RES assets, including cannibalisation of capture prices, increasing curtailment, and rising imbalance costs. Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and the Ireland I-SEM are the markets most affected by these drivers, incentivising co-location of RES assets with battery storage systems as a way for mitigation.

Co-location in Germany offers attractive revenue stacking opportunities, low grid fees, and mitigation of significant cannibalisation risk for RES, despite recent less appealing innovation auctions. Great Britain stands out due to favourable regulation, granting co-located assets access to multiple markets and offering faster grid access for co-located RES projects. Resulting from high curtailment risks to renewables and beneficial legislation facilitating faster grid access, the Ireland I-SEM is rated high for co-locating RES and battery storage. Additionally, Poland boasts a strong subsidy environment with cable pooling and access to long-term capacity market contracts.

Regulatory disparities across EU markets

The report reveals that several European markets often lack co-location policy schemes. In Germany, requirements imposed on the battery asset as part of the innovation auction scheme drastically reduces commercial viability. Spain’s draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) aims to increase BESS targets to at least 2.5GW by 2030, with significant government grants allocated for co-located storage projects, but little capacity has been procured on a subsidy-basis in recent years.

The five markets rated as the most favourable in terms of policy and regulation are Poland due to accessibility to long-term capacity market revenues and novel cable pooling regulation, Hungary, which introduced mandatory co-location for solar PV assets above a certain size, the Ireland I-SEM and Great Britain due to the variety of available revenue streams for projects and potential benefits in terms of grid access and curtailment risks. ​France is additionally considered an attractive market for the co-location of solar PV and BESS assets, as co-located solar PV can participate in French Contract for Differences (CfD) auctions, which have historically cleared at high strike prices.

Markets to watch

Recent announcements in Spain regarding potential Capital Expenditure (CapEx) support for co-located batteries could offer a substantial boost to business cases. Ongoing discussions in the Netherlands concerning battery storage obligations and potential reductions in grid fees could also enhance business cases and project pipelines.

Rebecca McManus, Senior Research Associate at Aurora Energy Research, commented:

“With intermittent renewables playing an ever more important role in the European energy landscape and the recent uptake of batteries, co-located projects will soon become an essential part of developers’ work. However, each asset type is challenging to navigate on its own and managing the interplay of both asset classes and how to operate them together, will remain an obstacle.”

Jannik Carl, Research Associate at Aurora Energy Research, added:

“Market interest in co-locating intermittent renewables and battery assets has surged across Europe, with Great Britain at the forefront. However, policy frameworks in many markets lag behind, often focusing solely on individual aspects of co-located business models. To ensure successful projects in the years ahead, addressing the full complexity—including grid integration and market access—will be crucial. “

Aurora’s European Renewables Co-location Report is available now—download the redacted version here and get in touch for further information.

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ABOUT AURORA ENERGY RESEARCH

Established in 2013, Aurora Energy Research is a leading global provider of power market forecasting and analytics for critical investment and financing decisions. Headquartered in Oxford, we operate out of 14 offices worldwide covering Europe, North & South America, Asia, and Australia. Our comprehensive services include market outlook packages for energy industry participants, advisory support, and innovative software solutions. We foster diversity with a team of over 600 experts with backgrounds in energy, finance, and consulting, offering unparalleled expertise across power, renewables, storage, hydrogen, carbon, and fossil commodities. Our mission is to facilitate the global energy transition through widely trusted quantitative analysis and high-quality decision support.