@edporter.bsky.social
All things energy transition and batteries. Occasional host on the Transmission podcast. Longer reads on LI, video on YouTube and both on Modo Energy’s terminal.
How do batteries in the most advanced battery storage geographies make returns?
Once frequency response markets are saturated, they move into the next best market, often energy trading.
Their impact at peak is usually at the expense of thermal plant which will see reduced run hours.
Yeah - I think this is the key role for batteries in a system with strategic reserve. Or a capacity market equivalent.
13.10.2025 14:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0They’ll follow whatever market prices dictate… and with good design, this should equal system need. Whether it’s solar or wind, matters a bit for locational issues like voltage/constraints but still batteries will respond to market rates.
13.10.2025 13:23 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Agree, depends on grid conditions, but the energy load of providing these services is very light. Obviously, this depends how often they are called
13.10.2025 12:35 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 02) In a dunkelflaute, I think the best use of storage is a daily cycle, minimising the size of the peak load, so that consumers have to pay the least possible for whatever form of strategic reserve is selected.
As ever, welcome feedback on this!
1) An inertia like response from a grid battery required around 2.5-5 seconds of response, so a 4 hour charged system has 3-6k responses before it is drained. Now that goes as quickly as the grid needs it, but may last more than a few days.
13.10.2025 12:33 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0So I wouldn’t expect the batteries to be called on for inertia in a dunkelfalute. Batteries, for me, will be more impactful when we are energy rich in say summer but don’t have the required tech to provide ancillaries. Eg stopping CCGTs being turned on only for voltage control
Two other bits:
An interesting example - near term, in Dunkelflaute, I expect the energy shortfall to be mostly dealt with on a form of strategic reserve. So that gas has a load factor of sub 5% annually but can run for a week at a time. That removes a need to provide (for example) inertia if the gas is running…
13.10.2025 12:33 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Around 50GWh, more detail here:
youtu.be/vx9kdsLXKlw?...
In Australia, with a weaker grid, we already see 40% of storage inverters being grid forming for exactly these services.
youtu.be/S7Lg1A958aA?...
And, create transparent markets for ancillary services like voltage, inertia or frequency response. Then you will get assets targeting these services as needed.
Eg, For voltage, I expect grid forming inverters will do a portion of this.
But, for system stability, if you require/purchase ancillary services from renewable assets (like reactive power, which you can get from a standard grid following inverter).
13.10.2025 09:58 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A snippet from Cleaning up with @mliebreich.bsky.social
Around 19:45:
Yes, shifting to renewable systems lowers grid inertia (importantly not to below required levels)…
Pretty cool to see Modo Energy data highlighting the growth of battery storage and storage’s expanding role from supporting frequency to energy balancing, reserve and future voltage support.
13.10.2025 06:53 — 👍 24 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 2⚡️how grid forming inverters and their ability to set voltage beyond providing reactive power should get people excited about running power systems without CCGTs
Ps - some of those new EVs are huge! The BYD shark is more or less a tank
⚖️ what the average prices look like for batteries in the balancing market and how this is undercutting gas - £33/MWh cheaper in September ‘25
11.10.2025 15:24 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Had a blast speaking at Everything Electric on the future of resilient grids hosted by the excellent @bobbyllew.bsky.social
Key topics:
🔋 how quickly the battery fleet has grown (now 6.5GW/10GWh) to dominate short term flexibility, for example, in frequency response markets and at lower cost.
How does liquidity pick up in Intraday markets, looking at Germany?
Slide from the recent German Livestream - which you can get here.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=drhd...
Very clear demonstration of cannibalisation of frequency response revenues as batteries push out any legacy technology from these markets.
10.10.2025 09:38 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
If you'd like to understand how batteries could work alongside gas and hydro in Spain, check out the latest Modo Energy livestream on BESS in Spain.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0nR...
Fun sawtooth trading in 15-min day ahead market in Germany
I don’t expect it to stay as trading patterns evolve and generators pick up additional 15-min blocks or buy back lower end of period volume.
Source: modoenergy.com/research/ger...
More detail: youtu.be/0c-wDm1BoBE?...
02.10.2025 07:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Projects with formal filings in Spain’s BOE (official government statement), such as grid connection requests or environmental assessments.
30.09.2025 09:40 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
What does Spain’s battery storage buildout look like?
By 2029, the country could host up to 5 GW of installed battery capacity.
Germany’s intraday market is the deepest and most volatile in Europe. More than a million trades clear daily, with 96 delivery windows open and prices swinging within minutes.
For batteries, this is where speed and flexibility deliver exceptional returns.
Chart from the Weekly Dispatch
Updated link: youtu.be/6n1xLQuhyhU?...
25.09.2025 15:50 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0A timely reminder of the growth in battery storage and how it is now competing at longer durations.
Check out the full episode to hear how groups like Field are bringing these battery projects to life.
Full source: youtu.be/v-1E24Uf2-4?...
Which storage technologies have passed through to the next round of Ofgem’s Long Duration “Cap and Floor” auction?
Hard to see anything other than variants of lithium dominating at 8 hours.
Source: modoenergy.com/research/gb-...
We start tracking from above 6MW, so there are a few in the sub 100MW size that aren’t in the BM. Over 100MW, you have to be in the BM.
20.09.2025 07:07 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
It’s a few GW more than that as this is only the batteries registered in the Balancing Mechanism. So it’s more like 6GW today
youtu.be/OtAUP14bhWA?...
