Finnish companies enter optimization deal for 140 MWh Lithuanian BESS

Helsinki’s Capalo AI has entered into a partnership to provide its trading and optimization services to a 70 MW / 140 MWh BESS in Šalčininkai, a city in Lithuania. The Šalčininkai BESS is a standalone system owned by fellow Finnish company Olana Energy, scheduled for commercial operation in the final quarter of 2026.

It will be one of the largest BESS in the country and it is Olana Energy’s first BESS venture in the country. When it is commissioned, the BESS will be integrated into Capalo AI’s automated, AI-powered optimization platform, Capalo Zeus VPP. The platform will manage the battery’s participation across all Lithuanian markets: FCR, aFRR, mFRR, spot and intraday. Capalo AI’s tool will also help maximize the asset’s lifetime value by enabling multi-market value stacking through real-time analytics.

Henri Taskinen, co-founder and CEO of Capalo AI described the Šalčininkai BESS as “a key step forward for grid flexibility in the Baltics.”

“AI-driven optimization and access to all markets are essential to maximizing the value of battery assets in today’s volatile energy environment,” Taskinen added, while Ville Kaituri, founder and CEO of Olana Energy said the company’s partnership with Capalo AI would ensure the BESS delivers critical balancing capacity to Lithuania’s national power system.

Kaituri said Lithuania is a big market for independent power producer (IPP) Olana Energy, which currently operates 25 MW of projects in its native Finland and has a development portfolio exceeding 1 GW across several markets.

Capalo AI, meanwhile, trades flexible assets in Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Sweden and is expanding to Central and Eastern European markets, including Poland.

Optimization services deal for 56 MWh BESS in Poland

Poland is another market where BESS is growing fast, and Israeli headquartered developer Energix made a deal with Swiss IPP Axpo in which the latter will assume responsibility for the full revenue optimization of its 24 MW / 56 MWh BESS in Poland’s Nowe Czarnowo region.

Axpo will provide full commercial and technical-regulatory support to the BESS, integrating it with the wholesale and balancing markets and associated ancillary services in line with Poland’s grid operator PSE. The agreement covers other areas such as handling of the capacity obligation and the prequalification to the ancillary services market.

The BESS is undergoing commissioning and prequalification for the balancing market and is expected to secure a license in Jan. 2026. It is located in the Nowe Czarnowo region near the existing Krajnik power station where Energix wind and solar PV sites already in Axpo’s portfolio also operate.

This optimization agreement is a continuation of Axpo and Energix’s ongoing collaboration, which encompasses seven renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) covering 300 MW of wind and 40 MW of solar capacity.

“We’re delighted that our innovative partner Energix is among the first for whom we are optimizing a BESS in Poland. Making best use of their facility’s potential is yet another important step in expanding our offering to provide flexibility to grid operators,” said Axpo Poland managing director, Mateusz Marczewski, adding that Axpo was an early mover in the Poland market.

Energix Polska CEO Artur Violante hinted at the Israel-headquartered company’s future Polish expansion plans. “The Nowe Czarnowo storage facility is just the beginning. The development of energy storage solutions like this is a key pillar of our expansion strategy in Poland and globally.” As well as Israel and Poland, Energix also has operations in the US.