Germany, Italy, UK, Netherlands, Spain to lead European battery market through 2029

SolarPower Europe estimates the continent added 21.9 GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in 2024 for an eleventh straight record year since the volume was first tracked, in 2013.

That would mean Europe had 61.1 GWh of BESS at the end of December, according to SolarPower Europe’s “European Market Outlook for Battery Storage 2025-2029” report, published on Wednesday.

With new annual BESS capacity having doubled for the previous three years, however, the annual growth rate slowed to 15%, according to the solar trade body’s figures.

That is because the prior three years were inflated by a boom in demand for household energy storage in response to the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the report. With electricity prices easing last year, and state support packages phased out, residential storage demand fell but utility-scale storage compensated with strong annual growth.

The report estimates European Union member states added 18.5 GWh of BESS in 2024 – 85% of the continent’s new additions – to reach 49.1 GWh of operational BESS in the bloc.

Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom consolidated their dominance of the European market with Austria and Sweden rounding out the top five. Those five nations cornered 78% of new European BESS capacity last year.

SolarPower Europe’s “medium” BESS growth scenario projects 29.7 GWh of BESS will be added in the continent this year, to see annual growth rebound to 36% as the utility-scale segment will double to offset stagnation in the home battery market. While residential installations are expected to fall this year, commercial and industrial arrays should rise, albeit while still short of that end-market’s potential.

The trade body said annual installation figures could reach 120 GWh by 2029, for total capacity of 400 GWh.

Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Spain will lead a market dominated by large-scale batteries, with hybrid renewables-plus-storage sites becoming the norm, helped by regulatory support and longer-duration energy storage.

The association’s “high” growth scenario estimates Europe could have 600 GWh of BESS by 2029, a figure still short of that required to optimize the rollout of renewable energy generation sites across the continent.

From pv magazine España.