Battery Storage Systems: "The Swiss Army Knife" of the Energy Transition

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) provide highly flexible system services and are regarded as the Swiss Army knife of the energy transition – versatile, precise, and deployable across multiple use cases.

In practice, three main roles can be distinguished:

1. System-level storage supports the transmission grid by delivering primary and secondary ancillary services (frequency containment reserve and frequency restoration reserve). Due to their fast response times, BESS help maintain grid frequency and system balance – and continue to generate attractive revenues in these reserve markets.

   
   

2. Market-driven storage leverages wholesale market volatility for price arbitrage: batteries charge during periods of negative or low spot prices (e.g., during high PV feed-in) and discharge when prices peak. This enables more efficient integration of renewable energy, mitigates price extremes, and increases overall market welfare.

   
   

3. Grid-oriented storage adapts its operation to local grid constraints:

   
   

   • Grid-burdening, if the asset operates purely based on price signals without regard for local congestion, potentially triggering costly grid reinforcement or redispatch measures.

     
     

   • Grid-neutral, if the storage asset is operated within predefined limits or under dynamic constraints to ensure it does not exacerbate local bottlenecks.

     
     

   • Grid-supportive, if the BESS actively relieves local grid stress through coordinated charging and discharging, thus preventing congestion and reducing network costs.

     
     

The key takeaway:

Storage assets can only unlock their full system value when they are deployed in a targeted, coordinated manner that considers both national market signals and regional grid realities.

For our REGIOlink concept, this means:

In regions with high solar PV penetration, standard market or system services operation is often sufficient to deliver local grid benefits. In wind-heavy regions, however, additional operational coordination – such as dynamic network tariffs, operational boundaries agreed with the distribution system operator (DSO), or targeted redispatch – is recommended to ensure storage is genuinely grid-beneficial and to create clear investment signals.

Only when battery storage is used as a truly multi-purpose tool does it realise its full value for the energy transition. That’s why we developed REGIOlink: to enable flexible, locally coordinated operating strategies that balance market efficiency with grid needs.

We’d like to start a conversation.

Let’s discuss how REGIOlink can fit into your grid operations – and how we can design future-proof storage solutions together.

[Source: White Paper „Netzverträglicher Ausbau von Großbatteriespeichern“ of FfE. à LINK]