IN Brief:
- Axpo and e-Storage will develop an 8MW/40MWh BESS at Rizziconi in southern Italy.
- RES has secured a full-scope asset management agreement for the 70MW Ånge BESS in Sweden.
- R.Power has agreed to sell a ready-to-build 250MW/1GWh Polish BESS project to Engie.
Axpo, e-Storage, RES, R.Power, and Engie are progressing separate battery storage developments across Italy, Sweden, and Poland.
In southern Italy, Axpo and Canadian Solar subsidiary e-Storage have partnered on an 8MW/40MWh BESS at Axpo’s existing combined-cycle gas power plant in Rizziconi, Calabria. The project will use the site’s established grid interconnection, with delivery to the grid expected in early 2028. e-Storage will supply an integrated system combining SolBank 3.0 units, power conversion systems, and its EQ-S energy management system.
The Rizziconi project links battery storage to existing thermal generation infrastructure. Southern Italy experiences periods where solar generation exceeds local grid absorption capacity during midday output peaks, and a battery located at an established generation site can use existing electrical infrastructure while reducing connection uncertainty.
In Sweden, RES has signed a full-scope battery asset management agreement for the 70MW Ånge BESS. The agreement was signed with developer Delta Capacity AG and Czech investment group Wood & Company, which acquired the asset from RES as a ready-to-build project. RES will provide technical, commercial, and financial asset management services as the project moves into operation.
The Ånge project is located near the Björnberget wind farm and the Alby Hydrogen project in Ånge municipality. It will provide flexibility and balancing services to the Swedish national grid, with the asset management agreement covering a wider operational scope than many early European battery contracts.
In Poland, R.Power has agreed to sell the 250MW/1GWh Tursko Wielkie BESS to Engie Zielona Energia. The project has reached ready-to-build status, with construction expected to begin in early 2027 and commissioning scheduled by the end of 2028. It will connect directly to the Połaniec power substation, an important transmission node in southeastern Poland.
The Polish transaction shows how storage portfolios are beginning to move through a more mature development chain. Developers and independent power producers are bringing BESS assets to ready-to-build status before selling or partnering with larger utilities able to finance, construct, own, and operate the systems over the long term.
Battery storage follows some of the development patterns already seen in wind and solar, but its operating model is more complex. Revenue stacking, degradation management, dispatch strategy, warranty treatment, state-of-charge control, and grid-service participation all influence lifetime value. A ready-to-build battery project therefore carries a different technical and commercial profile from a ready-to-build generation asset.
The three developments also show that European storage is not emerging as one uniform project class. The Italian project uses existing thermal generation infrastructure and grid access. The Swedish project is centred on operational asset management and national balancing services. The Polish project is a large transmission-node asset with utility ownership potential.
Recent European battery projects, including a Romanian 110MW/220MWh scheme developed with an associated high-voltage substation, have shown the same direction: storage projects are increasingly built as electrical infrastructure packages rather than containerised assets alone. The development of large BESS infrastructure in Romania sits alongside the Italian, Swedish, and Polish projects as evidence of that shift.
Existing grid interconnections are becoming especially valuable. In markets where connection queues are long and transmission reinforcement is constrained, former or existing generation sites can offer a faster route to operation. Rizziconi provides a practical example, using a gas-plant connection to accommodate battery storage within an already established power-system location.
The asset management element will grow in importance as more batteries reach operation. Storage revenues are sensitive to availability, degradation, response speed, state-of-charge strategy, market bidding, and technical performance. Full-scope asset management arrangements allow technical operation, commercial optimisation, and financial reporting to be coordinated more tightly, particularly where ownership is held by infrastructure investors.
Poland’s storage market remains heavily shaped by capacity-market structures, but large assets still need to clear the practical barriers of grid connection, construction sequencing, equipment procurement, and system operation. A 1GWh project connected to Połaniec will require detailed grid studies, protection coordination, communications, metering, and market participation arrangements before it becomes a dispatchable resource.
Taken together, the developments show European BESS entering a more disciplined phase. Capacity remains the headline measure, but project quality is now being defined by connection position, operating model, asset management, revenue structure, and the ability to perform reliably inside constrained, renewable-heavy networks.
