Friday, 24 July 2026

Polish independent power producer R.Power has awarded engineering, procurement and construction contracts for two utility-scale battery installations in Poland, according to ESS News: a 300 MW/1,200 MWh site at Dzięgielewo and a 250 MW/1,000 MWh site at Gdańsk.

ESS News reported that both are four-hour battery energy storage systems, with commissioning targeted for late 2027 or early 2028.

The Dzięgielewo build has gone to Onde SA, and Esix takes on delivery of the Gdańsk site, according to ESS News.

With these two sites added, R.Power's under-construction battery portfolio across Central and Eastern Europe now stands at more than 800 MW/2,750 MWh, the company said.

R.Power said capacity market contracts won through Poland's auctions underpin both projects, with delivery starting in 2029.

An optimization agreement with Axpo covers the Dzięgielewo site, according to ESS News.

Across its operating and under-construction assets, R.Power said it holds 1.9 GW.

Pace Digitek's Lineage Power unit has opened a battery research site in Pune, India, according to ESS News. The Pace-Lineage Research Center will handle engineering, product development and research into advanced battery technologies, including advanced chemistry cells (ACC) and energy storage solutions.

IISER Pune is a partner on the venture. The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune worked with the company to set up the facility, which will run research and development on battery technologies and materials.

Work at the center centers on advanced chemistry cells, spanning lithium-ion (Li-ion) and sodium-ion (Na-ion) chemistries, plus battery materials, ESS News reported. Pace Digitek said the research targets gains in battery capacity and cycling stability.

Staff will also test and verify raw materials sourced from domestic suppliers.

India's standalone battery tender tariffs have climbed to around INR 210,000/MW/month, according to ESS News, reversing record lows recorded earlier in the year. The rise follows tariffs in the range of INR 160,000 ($1,660)/MW/month to INR 190,000/MW/month across the first three quarters of 2025.

ESS News attributes the increase to tightening supply of raw materials and policy changes in China, still the world's dominant battery manufacturer.

Demand projections underpin the market. The Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA), in its Generation Adequacy Plan of 2026-2036, estimates that 147 GWh of battery storage will be required by 2031-32, rising to 321 GWh by 2035-36 to maintain reliability as renewable energy grows.

Price volatility is widening the case for storage arbitrage. Average one-hour price spreads increased to INR 7.42/kWh in 2025 from INR 6.95/kWh in 2024, according to ESS News, driven by excess midday solar generation and strong evening demand.

Policy mandates are adding to storage demand. Maharashtra's recent Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Policy requires at least two hours of energy storage equivalent to 50% of project capacity for new projects.

Regulatory changes have also raised risk for generators without storage. The tightening of deviation bands under the Deviation Settlement Mechanism took effect from April 1, 2026, increasing the penalty risk for standalone solar and wind projects.

On the manufacturing side, India's Production-Linked Incentive scheme has allocated 40 GWh of battery manufacturing capacity across two auctions, according to ESS News, though progress on the ground has been slower than hoped.

Statkraft has bought battery equipment for a storage system going into the repowered Montes de Cierzo wind farm at Tudela in northern Spain, ESS News reported.

ESS News put the configuration at six lithium-ion containers rated 14.26 MW and 28.51 MWh, enough for two hours of charging and discharging.

The EUR 4 million project won backing from Spain's Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), a grant capped at 24% of the storage investment, according to ESS News.

Batteries come from Hithium; Ingeteam supplies the power conversion system and control platform. ESS News reported that both are built in Navarra.

The storage sits within the second phase of the Montes de Cierzo repowering. Under that program, 85 original turbines give way to 14 newer machines, lifting installed capacity from 60 MW to 90 MW and raising annual output from 145 GWh to about 300 GWh, ESS News reported.

Beyond this site, Statkraft has 11 more storage projects tied to existing renewable plants in Spain, together exceeding 200 MW, plus two standalone battery projects of 90 MW/360 MWh, according to ESS News.

Separately, Aquila Clean Energy cleared its final permits for a 15.62 MW/31.1 MWh battery at the 38 MWp Manztierra solar plant in Ciudad Real, running since July 2024, ESS News reported.

Red Eléctrica has enlarged the Peñaflor substation at Villamayor de Gállego, in Zaragoza, adding transmission capacity in the area, according to the Redeia subsidiary that operates and transmits Spain's electricity system.

The work carries a EUR 10 million price tag and centers on a newly installed transmission transformer, according to Red Eléctrica.

The upgraded site is one of the main supply points for the city of Zaragoza and its metropolitan area, where more than 800,000 people live alongside major industrial zones, according to Red Eléctrica.

Crews are also constructing two bays at the 400 kV switchyard, according to Red Eléctrica. Red Eléctrica said the bays will later link two major electricity consumers.

The project falls under the April 2024 Modification of Specific Items to the current Transmission Grid Development Plan, which the Council of Ministers approved and which binds Red Eléctrica.

German startup Revolta has launched a high-voltage residential sodium-ion battery storage system with modular capacity ranging from 2 kWh to 20 kWh, according to ESS News.

Each module holds 2.0 kWh, and up to 10 can be connected in parallel to reach the 20 kWh total, ESS News reported.

The system runs at a nominal voltage of 450 V DC with an energy density of 105 Wh/kg, according to ESS News.

Revolta said charge and discharge power varies between 0.6 kW and 1.2 kW depending on the state of charge, and the system achieves efficiency above 95%.

The company said the battery can stay in standby for more than one year without requiring a recharge.

The official market launch is scheduled for September, a company spokesperson told pv magazine.

Revolta expects its sales network to be fully established by 2027, according to ESS News. The company plans to focus first on the German market while preparing for expansion into other European countries.

Factorial Energy Inc. has landed its first commercial order for drone batteries, its opening move into commercial aerospace, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

Under the deal, Factorial provides high-energy-density lithium-metal cells that a U.S.-based pack integrator will build into finished battery packs.

The order came after a drone flight test that showed more than a 30% gain in flight range, said Siyu Huang, who runs Factorial.

Factorial's cells have also been tested on the road. In Mercedes-Benz real-world trials with a lightly modified test vehicle, the technology delivered over 1,200 km of range on one charge, per the release.

Backers of Factorial Energy include IQT, the not-for-profit strategic investor for the U.S. national security community and America's allies, along with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Hyundai, and Kia.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) explored reforms to PJM governance and stakeholder processes at a daylong technical conference Thursday, according to PJM Inside Lines, which reported that two-dozen speakers took part.

PJM President and CEO David E. Mills used the venue to press a specific structural fix. According to PJM Inside Lines, Mills said he would create an augmented OPSI organization to speak for the totality of the states and would grant the PJM Board section 205 rights on the Operating Agreement and transmission planning.

Mills framed the reforms against a supply problem. More than 50 GW of resources have cleared PJM's planning process and executed interconnection agreements, yet the last two auctions produced lackluster new generation, he said, per PJM Inside Lines.

To help close the reliability gap, PJM will announce a September 2026 backstop auction with a 15-year term in the coming days, Mills noted, according to PJM Inside Lines.

Mills tied the reliability risks partly to eroded investor confidence. According to PJM Inside Lines, he pointed to repeated market-model changes, external interventions such as price caps, and broader narratives about leaving, dismantling or breaking up PJM.

The conference audience also heard from James P. Danly, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy and a former FERC chair, and from Peter Lake, senior director of power for the White House National Energy Dominance Council, PJM Inside Lines reported.