Southeastern Europe has some of the most compelling values for energy storage across the continent, according to a new report by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E).
The numbers, showing profitability in 24 markets in Europe, were calculated for the twelve months until June this year. The value indicators are expressed in euros per megawatt in the case of storage and euros per megawatt-hour for solar and wind.
In energy storage, ENTSO-E’s metric is based on the daily average spread between the eight lowest-priced hours for charging, and the eight highest-priced hours for discharging.
The range was from EUR 215 per MW to EUR 800 per MW.
In the region that Balkan Green Energy news covers, the second-highest value is in Greece, EUR 798 per MW, with the first one being Hungary. Bulgaria is almost the same, with EUR 797 per MW, while Romania is very close behind, at EUR 792 per MW. Croatia is at EUR 692 per MW, compared to Slovenia’s EUR 668 per MW.
Overall, the Balkan region indicates a significant revenue opportunity for batteries, as a result of a high spread between the highest and lowest power prices each day compared to other markets.
In comparison, storage in Italy provides EUR 406 per MW and northern countries even less, with Sweden at EUR 326 per MW and Norway at EUR 215 per MW.
Solar penetration results in a wide range of values
The profitability of photovoltaics is very different.
The value ranges from EUR 27 per MWh to 94 per MWh, with Portugal being the lowest and Italy the highest.
A low value reflects cannibalisation factors, such as curtailments. Together with low day-ahead power prices, they tend to reduce profitability for producers.
In Southeast Europe, Croatia has the highest value, EUR 69 per MWh. Slovenia follows with EUR 60 per MWh. Romania came in third with EUR 58 per MWh, and Bulgaria fourth, with EUR 57 per MWh. Greece has the lowest value, EUR 43 per MWh.
Early cannibalisation effects in wind
Wind energy ranged from EUR 35 per MWh in Finland to EUR 114 per MWh in Italy.
As for Southeast Europe, wind farms in Croatia offer a value of EUR 108 per MWh. Bulgaria is a close second with EUR 107 per MWh. Romania followed with EUR 105 per MWh, and Greece was again last, at EUR 88 per MWh. There was no data for Slovenia.
Countries with a substantial share of wind generation tend to show wind values that were between EUR 5 per MWh and EUR 15 per MWh below their average day-ahead prices, indicating the presence of early cannibalisation effects. Conversely, in markets with generally higher day-ahead price levels, wind values also tend to be elevated, as ENTSO-E highlighted.
