In March 2024, we organised an in-depth seminar on the current state and future prospects of the Dutch energy storage market, in collaboration with Green Giraffe Advisory. The seminar featured experts and stakeholders from the industry, finance, and policy fields who shared their insights and experiences on the opportunities and challenges of energy storage in the Netherlands and beyond.
Energy storage is a key enabler for the transition to a low-carbon and flexible energy system, as it can provide multiple services and benefits to the grid, the market, and the environment. However, energy storage also faces significant barriers and uncertainties, such as lacking regulatory frameworks, declining revenue streams, long queues for grid connection, technology costs, and competition. The good news is that some of these barriers are currently breaking away.
Some of the takeaways from the seminar were:
- the UK is currently the market leader in the field of energy storage. Grid connection is a major bottleneck for further growth;
- grid connection is a main point of attention for the development of energy storage projects in all markets, but especially in countries where the grid is congested, or the application process is lengthy or complex. Having access to a high voltage grid will be essential;
- revenue streams for energy storage can be challenging and depend on various factors, but there is a lot of potential ahead;
- the Dutch energy storage market is at a turning point, as it is expected to grow significantly in the next years, driven by the increasing share of renewables, the phasing out of coal plants, and the changing regulatory framework which might shorten the queues for grid connection and allow for differentiated tariffs depending on flexibility in the near future. There are still hurdles and gaps to overcome, such as the (flexibility in) grid fees, the capacity of the transmission system operator to connect to the high-voltage grid. Navigating this well will be essential for the success of energy storage projects;
- collaboration and innovation are crucial to overcome the technical, regulatory, and financial challenges of energy storage;
- developers are pushing for merchant risk projects with no contracted off-take, and some lenders accommodate that.
The overall conclusion is that the future of energy storage is now. Being able to navigate the applicable and changing legal and commercial framework is essential for success in the market of (battery) energy storage systems.
