Storage rises as solar stalls: Europe's Energy Market at a crossroads.
6 min read
Despite a cooling solar market, front-of-the-meter battery storage is stepping into the spotlight across Europe. As residential demand falters, large-scale battery projects and commercial storage emerge as key growth drivers.
Europe’s solar PV market, once soaring with double-digit growth rates, has begun to level off. In 2024, installations grew just 12%, a significant deceleration from the 51% expansion seen in 2023. Residential solar, the engine behind the previous boom, fell 23% year-on-year, hit by high interest rates, stabilizing electricity prices, and declining policy support.
This deceleration has had a knock-on effect on the residential battery storage segment, which contracted by 22% across most key markets. Italy’s slowdown was especially steep, following the wind-down of its generous Superbonus scheme. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands and Germany, uncertainty surrounding net metering and heat pump policies, respectively, has made consumers cautious.
But as residential PV demand softens, Europe’s battery energy storage system (BESS) sector is showing resilience, particularly in the commercial, industrial, and utility-scale segments.
In 2024, front-of-the-meter energy storage installations in Europe surged by 38%, adding 4.3 GW of new capacity. The UK, Italy, Germany, and Sweden accounted for 70% of that growth. Total operational front-of-the-meter capacity now stands above 13 GW and is on track to exceed 100 GW by 2030.
S&P Global projects that, for the first time, front-of-the-meter systems will surpass behind-the-meter storage in cumulative installed capacity by the end of this decade. This marks a major shift from the early 2020s, when residential installations dominated.
Part of this momentum is coming from falling system costs and rising electricity price spreads—especially in commercial and industrial markets with time-of-use tariffs. Corporate buyers are also increasingly turning to battery storage as a tool for price hedging and sustainability commitments.
What’s driving the front-of-the-meter boom? The answer varies significantly by country.
Italy is taking a top-down approach with long-term contracts and capacity mechanisms like the MACSE program, providing revenue certainty and strong bankability for investors.
Germany and the UK continue to lean on merchant market dynamics, offering multiple revenue streams via day-ahead, intraday, and ancillary service markets. This multi-market approach brings higher risk but also greater upside.
Emerging markets in Eastern Europe, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Greece are relying on EU funding and subsidy-backed tenders to kickstart their storage deployments.
The policy mix across Europe reflects varying stages of market maturity and regulatory sophistication. Some nations are still laying the groundwork, while others are refining advanced frameworks for multi-revenue operation.
In the quest for predictable cash flows, tolling agreements are becoming more common. These contracts allow utilities or optimizers to lease battery systems from asset owners, trading on their behalf. This reduces merchant exposure and helps developers secure financing.
Utilities in Belgium, Germany, and the UK have already signed two- to seven-year tolling contracts. While promising, these deals come with challenges: counterparty risk, complex pricing structures, and a limited pool of credible offtakers.
Still, tolling offers an appealing bridge for developers aiming to attract conservative capital or build a track record in volatile markets. It’s also creating room for newer market optimizers to prove themselves without full asset ownership.
Despite strong fundamentals, Europe’s storage growth isn’t without obstacles. Grid bottlenecks, regulatory delays, and new interconnection cost structures such as Germany’s construction surcharges are slowing down deployments.
The UK is exploring grid access reforms, while dThe UK is exploring grid access reforms, while developers across the continent are calling for faster permitting and clearer interconnection procedures. Without these, growth could stall post-2030.evelopers across the continent are calling for faster permitting and clearer interconnection procedures. Without these, growth could stall post-2030.
With the PV market expected to cool further after 2029 due to saturation and falling wholesale electricity prices, storage will play a critical role in maintaining momentum toward Europe’s energy transition targets.
Large-scale energy storage can smooth out volatility, stabilize grids, and unlock greater value from variable renewables. But to fulfill this role, BESS deployment needs a stable, flexible regulatory environment and investment-grade revenue frameworks
2025 marks a turning point for energy storage in Europe. While residential markets falter, utility-scale and commercial deployments are accelerating. Forward-thinking regulation, robust revenue models, and cross-border collaboration will be crucial to overcoming headwinds and ensuring that storage continues to support a decarbonized, resilient European power system.
As policy evolves and investment shifts toward large-scale assets, Europe’s storage future looks both promising and pivotal especially as solar alone can no longer carry the clean energy transition.
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