Europe has already registered more than 3,000 energy storage projects this year, totaling over 200 GW of installed power and around 3,000 GWh of capacity, according to the European Energy Storage Inventory of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.
Public records highlight the rapid growth of this segment, considered key to accommodating variable solar and wind production and reinforcing grid stability.
The database now provides greater technological detail, detailing lithium ion battery sub-technologies — LFP (lithium iron phosphate), NMC (lithium nickel manganese cobalt), LMO (lithium manganese oxide) and NCA (lithium nickel cobalt aluminum) — which allows better performance, durability and suitability of solutions for specific applications in the electrical system to be assessed. This level of disaggregation facilitates planning decisions and market analysis by operators and regulators, according to the document.
By country, the United Kingdom leads the ranking with more than 69 GW in projects in various stages of development, followed by Germany (≈21 GW) and Italy (≈19 GW). Poland and Spain make up the top five, each with around 13 GW, reflecting an increase in storage in central and southern Europe.
Although around 74 GW are already in operation, the inventory points to a robust pipeline: more than 100 GW are in the planning, announcement stages or with licenses granted, anticipating an acceleration of development in the coming years in parallel with the expansion of renewables.
Geographic expansion is also accentuated, as projects appear for the first time in countries such as Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, signaling that storage technology is beginning to gain relevance outside the more mature markets of the European Union.
This expansion points to a regional effort for greater flexibility and resilience of electrical networks in the face of the transition to a decarbonized energy system, the report also highlights.