Episode Details

Germany’s utility-scale battery deployment is hitting an inflection point.

After years of projects piling up in development pipelines, utility-scale storage is arriving at gigawatt scale – just as Germany’s huge solar fleet drives electricity prices towards zero, or below, during sunny hours.

For batteries that can shift that power into higher-priced periods, the opportunity is enormous.

Host Jonathan Gifford speaks with Thaddäus Kreisig, Principal at Aurora Energy Research, about Germany’s forming battery boom – and how developers are building revenue stacks to make projects viable.

The shift is striking: more than two-thirds of solar developers recently surveyed by Aurora said every project they plan to deploy will be co-located with a battery system. Falling battery-system equipment costs are strengthening the business case, while arbitrage, ancillary services, EEG revenues, and new financing models are opening up ways in which battery energy storage systems can pay off.

But grid constraints remain a major hurdle. Flexible connection agreements can restrict when batteries charge and discharge – limiting revenues, even as energy storage could help resolve the German energy market’s pricing peaks and troughs.

In short, Germany’s massive solar fleet has created both the need and the opportunity for batteries. And energy storage is rapidly shifting from optional extra to essential infrastructure – but the route-to-market for projects certainly promises to be an interesting ride.

✉️ Questions, comments or suggestions? Reach us at podcast@thesmartere.com