Energy Storage is a Key Strategic Asset for the European Union’s Industrial Future

1 February 2023: EASE – The European Association for Storage of Energy – is encouraged by the European Commission’s recently unveiled communication on the Green Deal Industrial Policy. EASE regrets that a leaked text from 30 January 2023 was more explicit in its support for energy storage; nonetheless EASE is confident that energy storage’s importance will be recognised once the European Commission assesses it as a core strategic industry to reach climate neutrality. 

The European Union should give fair recognition to the critical role that energy storage plays in the energy system and the need to unlock energy storage’s industrial potential. Europe’s energy storage sector is a global leader in clean tech, but oftentimes, its role is not fully recognised by policymakers. This hinders necessary investments, as resources are deployed where there is clear political commitment to energy storage. In this sense, the Green Deal Industrial Policy offers an optimal opportunity for the European Commission to do so. Energy storage should be considered in the context of the harmonised European Union industrial capacity goals for 2030. This would be a  game-changer and a signal of clear political commitment. In the past, EASE highlighted that an energy storage strategy with targets would put Europe’s industrial policy on track for net-zero. 

EASE agrees that simplification and acceleration of incentives is needed to make Europe attractive and competitive. Especially as energy storage firms struggle to access finance, better support schemes and aid should be made available to ensure clean tech deployment. Lengthy permitting and skilled labour shortages are also barriers to the energy storage sector, so it is positive that the European Commission is looking at these matters.  

As the Green Deal Industrial Policy progresses, EASE urges the European Commission to reinstate and expand its ambitions for the energy storage industry in securing our net-zero future.