Battery capacity is getting bigger, storage duration longer, and batteries more central to how power systems operate.
In this episode of The smarter E Podcast, we look at what’s driving the surge in battery capacity and why expectations for storage are shifting so quickly.
Projects that would have seemed unrealistic just a few years ago are now moving into planning and achieving financial close. Lithium-ion batteries are expanding well beyond traditional short-duration applications, as falling costs and ongoing technical progress make longer discharge durations commercially viable.
At the same time, rising renewable penetration is exposing a new challenge: extended periods when the power output from wind and solar output is low, for extended periods, and at the same time (the dreaded Dunkelflaute). These events are forcing system operators, utilities, and policymakers to rethink how much storage is needed – and for how long.
The episode also explores the structural side of the transition: how market design, revenue certainty, and permitting timelines could ultimately decide how fast large-scale storage rolls out, and which technologies win the arms race.
If the last decade was about proving that storage can, in fact, work – the next may be about proving that it can actually play a central role in helping manage power systems.
About The smarter E Podcast
The smarter E podcast is all about the current trends and developments in a renewable, decentralized and digital energy industry. Our host welcomes and interviews personalities who shape our industry and drive developments forward. A new episode is published bi-weekly on Thursdays.
Carolina Cruz works in EU energy policy at the European Association for the Storage of Energy, also known as Energy Storage Europe. She is a consultant with Clerens, a international public affairs and communications consultancy based in Brussels. She holds and Masters in International Law from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations.
Pete Tillotson is Senior Research Analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (formerly Rho Motion) in the BESS market. His work focuses on monthly demand data collection and analysis, policy and legislation and demand forecasting. He has been working as a BESS analyst for just under four years, and has a MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London focusing on environmental economics and energy policy.