Vattenfall brings in Kraken to manage entire German battery and renewables fleet as one

The Kraken platform will take turn the standalone and co-located battery storage, wind, and solar assets in Germany into a unified virtual power plant.

Swedish utility Vattenfall has selected Kraken to provide control, and management for its grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) and renewable generation portfolio in all of Germany.

The partnership establishes a control layer connecting Vattenfall’s trading desk directly to its physical assets. The software will aggregate standalone batteries, wind, solar, and co-located sites into a virtual power plant (VPP), automating real-time dispatch across wholesale electricity markets and ancillary services while minimizing imbalance exposure.

Germany approved rules for bi-directional charging for storage, allowing co-located batteries to trade grid and solar power (“grey electricity”) without forfeiting EEG subsidies. With this change, utilities now face a dispatch optimization headaches when considering a single grid connection point. Vattenfall’s addition of Kraken’s software capabilities to navigate this regulatory and physical bottleneck aims to avoid cannibalizing its own solar or wind revenues.

Sharing grid infrastructure speeds up deployment and reduces connection costs, but can introduce these practical issues.

The agreement supports Vattenfall’s broader push into European flexibility markets. Having entered the large-scale battery storage segment in late 2024 with plans to deploy and contract up to 3 GW of battery capacity, the utility has explored and expanded its third-party offtake and optimization business, including signing an industry-first virtual battery tolling agreement with Terralayr.

Software control, not trading

Vattenfall retains the commercial trading desk and market risk, while Kraken, owned by Octopus Energy Group, acts as the execution engine between the trading algorithm and the inverters. 

Vattenfall’s approach in taking off-the-shelf dispatch architecture keeps software and hardware integration as a third-party task, reducing operational headaches.

The deal comes as Germany’s battery storage additions surged 91% in the first nine months of 2026 to reach 8.2 GWh, increasing competition and reducing the ‘early and easy’ battery revenues available in markets.

What they said:

Christian Sdralek, director of portfolio management in Vattenfall’s trading unit: “The market for battery storage and co-located renewable assets is growing rapidly. We see significant opportunities to help asset owners maximize the value of their flexibility while supporting the integration of renewables into the energy system. Through our partnership with Kraken, we are strengthening our ability to offer innovative offtake and optimization solutions at scale across Germany and Europe.”

Charlotte Johnson, general manager, flexibility at Kraken: “Utilities across Europe are investing heavily in battery storage and renewable generation, but scaling these portfolios requires more than adding new assets. It requires a technology foundation capable of connecting and coordinating different assets as one portfolio. Kraken will give Vattenfall a common platform from its trading desk to its physical assets. Our experience in grid-scale batteries and co-located sites means Kraken can manage the complexity beneath the surface, allowing Vattenfall to focus on growing its portfolio and capturing its full potential.”