REPowerEU Recognises the Role of Energy Storage, but the Lack of a Dedicated Storage Strategy is a Missed Opportunity

19 May 2022: On 18 May 2022, the European Commission unveiled REPowerEU, a plan to reduce Russian fossil fuel dependency and fast forward the green transition.

In the plan, the European Commission recognises that energy storage plays a key role in ensuring security of supply and supporting renewables integration, reducing the need for polluting gas power plants.

EASE welcomes the provisions that aim at boosting energy storage deployment, e.g. through investments, better permitting, and coupling energy storage with building renovation.

Yet, the absence of an energy storage strategy that would outline clear targets is unfortunate. Its announcement alone would have sent strong investment signals and accelerated technology deployment.

EASE believes the European Commission can still develop and present such a strategy in the next months, building upon REPowerEU. The European Parliament’s report on energy storage proposed the development of a strategy in 2020: such a report would provide a solid foundation for the strategy.

It is also a pity that the topic of curtailment is not fully covered. The EU wastes enormous quantities of renewable energy due to overproduction and system congestion: energy storage would be able to prevent such inefficiency and maximise EU power generation.

All in all, EASE believes that the text contains some good provisions. But EASE calculates that energy storage deployment needs to increase by at least 14-fold by 2030 to achieve decarbonisation targets and energy security: the absence of an energy storage strategy is a missed opportunity that may jeopardise EU objectives. EASE is confident that the European Commission will address the matter in the months to come, furthering their current work on energy storage.