On 27 May 2025, over 200 participants attended the webinar on the "EASE Guidelines on Safety Best Practices for Battery Energy Storage Systems". The Guidelines are designed to support the safe deployment of outdoor, utility-scale lithium-ion (Li-ion) BESS across Europe.
July 2025 / Policy Papers
Guidance on Grid Connections
The European Commission launched a stakeholder consultation to gather input from stakeholders on its upcoming guidance regarding grid connections in situations where capacity constraints exist. In response, Energy Storage Europe Association submitted its feedback, emphasising the growing issue of speculative and stalled projects ("ghost" or "zombie" projects) hoarding grid capacity. These projects, often immature or inactive, prevent more viable and ready-to-build projects - particularly energy storage - from connecting to the grid, slowing down the clean energy transition.
Energy Storage Europe Association supports transitioning from a “first-come, first-served” approach to a “first-ready, first-served” model, prioritising projects based on objective maturity criteria like land rights, permits, and financial closure. To further improve grid access, Energy Storage Europe Association calls for:
Milestone-based progress tracking and a use-it-or-lose-it principle to clear inactive projects from the queue.
Greater flexibility for energy storage assets and simplified modification processes for existing connections when capacity doesn’t increase.
Transparent capacity maps and queue data to improve planning and investment.
Flexible Connection Agreements (FCAs) to enable connections in congested areas, provided they are fairly designed and backed by regulatory oversight.
Energy Storage Europe Association concludes that a smarter, more transparent, and storage-friendly grid connection framework is essential to accelerate Europe’s energy transition and optimise infrastructure use.
On 27 May 2025, over 200 participants attended the webinar on the "EASE Guidelines on Safety Best Practices for Battery Energy Storage Systems". The Guidelines are designed to support the safe deployment of outdoor, utility-scale lithium-ion (Li-ion) BESS across Europe.
Energy Storage Europe Association responds to the European Commission’s Public Consultation on the European Grids Package, calling for clearer guidance and obligations on flexibility assessments in planning processes. This includes common methodologies, improved DSO-TSO coordination, and enhanced grid connection procedures. Storage should be considered a standard resource for grid services and reflected accordingly in system planning, cost-benefit analyses, and network development scenarios.
The European Commission has recently launched a stakeholder consultation on its upcoming guidance regarding grid connections in situations where capacity constraints exist. In response, Energy Storage Europe Association urged reforms to tackle stalled “ghost” projects blocking viable energy storage. Key recommendations include a “first-ready, first-served” model, transparent grid data, and more flexible rules to accelerate the clean energy transition.
On 27 May 2025, over 200 participants attended the webinar on the "EASE Guidelines on Safety Best Practices for Battery Energy Storage Systems". The Guidelines are designed to support the safe deployment of outdoor, utility-scale lithium-ion (Li-ion) BESS across Europe.
Energy storage is a key enabler of the European Union’s decarbonisation and energy security objectives, yet current grid fee structures often act as barriers to its deployment. This position paper outlines critical challenges related to network tariffs and charges that create market distortions and discourage much-needed investments in flexibility.
