world
EU Energy Council Reaches Battery Storage Agreement Targeting 45 GW by 2028
Energy ministers from 22 EU member states joined the European Commission and industry groups in pledging new storage capacity. The deal sets targets amid rising renewable output and grid constraints. Euronews reported the June 26 agreement during the Energy Council.
Jul 15, 2:00 AM·2m read1 source
EuronewsAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
The European Commission, energy ministers from 22 member states, storage and renewable developers, energy-intensive industries, and financial institutions including the European Investment Bank reached an agreement on battery storage during the Energy Council on June 26.
Signatories pledged to deliver 30 to 35 GW of new storage capacity by 2028, while the underlying text sets a target of 45 GW. The EU currently has about 55 GW of storage installed and estimates a need of 200 GW by 2030.
The agreement aims to raise storage's share of peak electricity demand from around 5 percent today to 10 percent. "At the moment, we see a lot of negative prices and a lot of curtailment," said Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of Solar Power Europe. Commercial and industrial battery storage is expected to grow from 9 GWh in 2026 to 24 GWh in 2028, while storage-backed power purchase agreements are projected to increase from 1.5 GW to 4.5 GW over the same period.
Battery costs fell by around 93 percent between 2010 and 2024, according to IRENA. Europe installed 21.9 GWh of new battery systems in 2024, marking the eleventh consecutive record year. "By 2030, we will install roughly 30 times what we were installing just five years ago," said Jacopo Tosoni, deputy secretary general of Energy Storage Europe.
Germany has created a legal category of "grid boosters" for batteries classified as infrastructure. In the Baltics, storage served as a safety net during synchronization with the continental European grid after ties to Russia and Belarus ended. Projections from Aurora/Amber indicate storage could displace up to 60 percent of gas imports by 2030 and save roughly €9 billion in gas purchases.
