The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a 19.8 million euros Croatian aid measure in favour of energy storage operator IE-Energy to partially finance the procurement and the installation of grid-scale batteries to provide transmission system operators (TSOs) with balancing services.
TSOs can use grid-scale batteries to maintain a continuous balance between electricity supply from power stations and consumer demand and to store electricity when needed.
IE-Energy’s battery energy storage site should be online by the end of 2022. It will amount to an initial capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) and 22 megawatt-hours (MWh) which can be increased up to 50MW/110MWh.
The aid will take the form of a direct grant and will cover approximately 30 per cent of capital expenditures. A much-needed measure as the Commission concluded that it is necessary and appropriate to address an existing market failure, due to the lack of current incentives.
The whole system will be an integral part of the company’s Virtual Power Plant digital platform that will enable the aggregation of multiple energy producing, storage and consuming assets in order to provide demand response services to the TSO and electricity market.
Furthermore, the EU aid will contribute to the modernisation of Croatia’s energy network, as well as increase the country’s and the EU’s energy security of supply. In addition, it will accelerate the decarbonisation of the Croatian energy sector.