Czechia connects 318 MWh of batteries in H1

Czechia added 318 MWh of new battery capacity during the first half of 2026 (H1), according to figures released by Czech solar association Solární Asociace. The figure represents an 83% increase in added capacity when compared to deployments during the first half of 2025, which reached 174 MWh.

There were 12 standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) connected to the Czech grid in H1, with a total capacity of 108 MWh. For comparison, there were zero standalone storage systems commissioned during the first half of 2025.

Jan Fousek, Director of Czech storage association AKU-BAT, commented that the Czech market has shown there is huge interest in battery storage since the entry into force of the Lex OZE III amendment, which formally introduced legal frameworks for large-scale energy storage, aggregation and grid flexibility services.

He added that further development will logically be limited by the capacity of distribution networks and transmission systems.

“The regulatory environment and tariffs will have a significant impact on investor appetite,” Fousek said. “These will decide whether batteries will be used where they bring the highest value – to households, industry and the entire electricity system.”

Fousek pointed to a power outage in Czechia on July 4 this year when deployed battery storage and aggregated flexibility proved its value in the market.

“Our members from the flexibility aggregators alone provided around 50% of aFRR regulation services, previously secondary regulation, with their batteries at that time, thus proving their irreplaceable role in the security of system operation,” he said.

The rollout of standalone storage in Czechia looks set to continue. Projects in the pipeline including two BESS with a combined capacity of 320 MWh, to be delivered by China’s AlphaESS. Last December, the company said its 230 MWh Chvaletice project and 90 MWh Kladno projects will become the country’s largest standalone energy storage installations.

Battery storage is also helping to maintain solar deployments in Czechia. Of the 9,346 solar power plants installed in the country during H1, Solární Asociace says 8,079 were equipped with battery storage systems.

Earlier this year, the Czech government began to consider proposals that would prevent double taxation on projects installing both storage and solar.

While behind-the-meter installations have traditionally made up the majority of Czechia’s battery fleet, analysts are expecting utility-scale storage to lead the development of the Czech market through to the end of the decade, by which point battery storage capacity is expected to reach 6 GWh.