Neoen signs seven-year tolling contract with Uniper for German BESS project 

Franch renewables developer Neoen has signed a long-term tolling agreement with energy company Uniper for its 30 MW/78 MWh Arneburg Battery in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

The contract is due to commence in 2027 and has a duration of seven years. During this period Uniper will have full control of the charging and discharging of the battery while Neoen will continue to manage the asset’s operation and maintenance. Uniper intends to optimize the asset across all revenue market channels from ancillary grid services to the wholesale market.

Arneburg Battery is Neoen’s first asset in Germany. The battery is currently mid-way through construction and is expected to be operational in 2026.

Neoen has been actively developing battery storage projects in Germany since 2023 and has established “a significant pipeline of projects”. Leveraging its extensive expertise in large-scale batteries around the globe with 2.7 GW/8.1 GWh in operation or under construction, Neoen says it intends to become “a major player” in the German storage market.

Tools like tolling agreements are becoming more prevalent, offering revenue certainty that supports bankability and project financing in an increasingly maturing battery storage market.

Under such deals, the battery owner sells the operational rights to an offtaker/route-to-market provider over a certain number of years for a fixed fee per MWh. In other words, they lease the battery and renounce any trading control over the period covered by the deal in exchange for a fixed payment. They remain responsible for maintenance and availability of the BESS, however, while having little to no influence on its operational regime.

This is opposite to the common ‘merchant’ or ‘profit-share’ contracts, where the BESS owner remains exposed to the revenue risk and upside. However, with BESS revenue stack impossible to predict in the long run, the certainty of revenues under a tolling deal can improve the prospects of getting debt financing.

In Germany, specifically, the first tolling agreement was announced in December 2024 for the 104.5 MW/209 MWh Stendal BESS project. At the time, Israeli developer and independent power producer Nofar said that the seven-year toll will provide it with estimated €85-€95 million over the period from 2027–2033, with an option to commence earlier on a merchant basis before January 2027. In December 2025, Nofar sold a 49% stake in the project for €25 million to an unnamed local investor.