Green transition

Energy storage, how Italy secures renewables

Storage infrastructure is strategic for increasing national independence. First auction to allocate 10 GWh of capacity in September

by Alexis Paparo

21 August 2025

4' min read

Key points

Sector snapshot
Storage technologies
Towards the 2030 goals and beyond

4' min read

The production of renewable energy like a nose that captures oxygen and conveys it to the lungs. The storage network like blood, which transports, stores and distributes this energy throughout the body. In a cycle that allows energy to flow without interruption, and cover all demand.

Energy storage systems are a strategic asset to guarantee security and flexibility to the national electricity grid and accelerate Italy's energy transition. And they are essential to reach Italy's target of 131 GW of renewables by 2030 contained in the Pniec (National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan). This is why it is highly anticipated that on 30 September, the day of Terna's first auction for the Macse (storage futures market), the competitive mechanism through which our system operator will procure 10 GWh of storage capacity, to be delivered by 2028, and which in total envisages putting into operation a capacity of 71 GWh and a power of over 9 GW by 2030, through 17.7 billion euro in support.

The strategic importance of storage is twofold, explains Davide Chiaroni, vice-president of Energy & Strategy at the Politecnico di Milano: 'On the one hand, it allows us to guarantee reliability and flexibility to a grid that is increasingly fuelled by non-programmable sources; on the other hand, it contributes to the country's energy independence, reducing dependence on foreign supplies of fossil fuels and strengthening our energy security for the coming decades.

The industry snapshot

According to data from the Politecnico di Milano, at the end of 2024, Italy had over700 thousand electrochemical systems installed, corresponding to a cumulative power of almost 6 GW and a capacity of over 13 GWh. 2024 saw more than 200 thousand new installations, with a 62% increase in power and 85% in capacity over the previous year. According to Terna's latest data, as of 30 June, there were 16,411 MWh of storage capacity in Italy (+69.3% compared to the same period in 2024), for about 815 thousand storage systems.

"We are the most attractive European market for the storage sector, both because of the auction system and because of the spontaneous growth of the sector," Chiaroni emphasises, "A growth that involves both the residential segment linked to photovoltaics, which is, however, slowing down after the end of the Superbonus, and the large centralised installations. Lombardy, Apulia and Latium lead the new installations, but the southern regions are gaining ground, partly because a larger share of variable renewable sources is concentrated there.

In 2024, Germany, Italy and the UK accounted for about 70% of the total installed capacity in the EU. By 2030, Polimi estimates that Great Britain and Italy will have the largest installed battery capacity and will together account for almost 50% of the total capacity growth in Europe.

The storage technologies

To date - according to Polimi's data - almost all new installations concern lithium-ion batteries, a technology that is benefiting from a significant drop in costs: between 2023 and 2025, the Capex for 4-8 hour systems has been reduced by around 20%-25%, driven by the drop in raw materials, but also by growing industrial competition. "We have seen reductions in the order of 30-35% in battery costs in the last year alone," Chiaroni adds. However, innovative solutions are also gaining attention, such as Energy Dome's CO2 batteries (see article opposite), equal to lithium batteries in the Bills Decree, and which could "engage the CO2 capture and utilisation chain, giving a double advantage: energy storage and emission reduction," he adds.

According to Chiaroni, the rules introduced - from the Macse auctions to the Capacity Market mechanisms - have started a virtuous cycle. "The system seems to have struck a balance between competitiveness and attractiveness for operators, and we do not see any significant regulatory blockages," Chiaroni observes. "Margins for improvement can be glimpsed in the possibility of fosteringexpansion in Southern Italy and in the evolution towards so-called virtual aggregation, already an advanced reality in Germany, which makes it possible to unite different residential systems and manage them as a single large virtual battery."

Today, the longevity of storage systems has already increased from 12-14 years to the current 15-20 years. This is why, in parallel with market development, it would be necessary now to activate a national chain for therecycling of lithium batteries: 'If we succeed in developing a recycling pillar, as we have already begun to do for photovoltaic panels, we could guarantee security and strategic independence for decades to come,' hopes Chiaroni.

Towards the 2030 goals and beyond

According to Chiaroni, in order to meet Pniec's ambitious targets, 'at least three auctions per year until 2028 would be needed' to cover demand and allow both operators and grid operator Terna to plan interventions.

"It is reasonable to expect that, when fully operational, all new renewable energy plants will already be installed with integrated storage systems. And where the market does not cover the needs, Terna will be able to intervene directly with targeted investments," Chiaroni explains. In addition to quantitative development, room for growth remains in strategies for the use of storage, digital optimisation, and new technology lifecycle management chains.

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