As wind and solar capacity increases across Europe, adding more generation is no longer the only priority. Electricity systems also need greater flexibility to make renewable power available when demand is highest.
The smarter E Europe argues that large battery energy storage systems (BESS) and hybrid PV projects will be central to this next phase, helping to reduce curtailment, ease grid congestion and create new revenue opportunities.
When more generation is not enough
Germany illustrates the challenge. High volumes of cost-effective solar electricity increasingly enter the grid around midday, particularly during sunny months. Prices can fall sharply or become negative, sometimes forcing renewable generation to be curtailed.
Later in the day, solar generation falls as electricity consumption rises.
The underlying problem is therefore not excess solar generation, but insufficient flexibility to move electricity between periods of high and low availability.
Large storage projects can help by:
Battery economics are also improving. Lithium-ion battery prices have fallen by around 90 per cent over the past 15 years, contributing to growing investor interest in storage as an infrastructure asset.
Hybrid projects connect generation and flexibility
PV-BESS hybrid projects take this further by combining solar generation and battery storage at a shared grid connection.
Infrastructure such as transformers, substations, cabling and control systems can be shared, while electricity can be exported immediately or stored for later use.
This can improve the use of constrained grid connections and give operators more options when electricity prices are low or negative.
Hybrid projects can also combine several revenue sources, including:
This diversification can make projects more resilient to changing electricity prices, although hybridisation also introduces additional complexity in planning, financing and operation.
Projects show the model in practice
Several European projects demonstrate how storage is moving into mainstream infrastructure.
In Germany, Statkraft’s Zerbst project combines 46.4 MW of PV with a 16 MW / 57 MWh battery. The system allows solar electricity to be shifted towards periods when market prices are higher.
The Bad Wörishofen thermal baths provide a smaller integrated example, combining 1.34 MW of PV with three battery units providing 3.864 MWh of storage, alongside electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
In the UK, Cleve Hill combines 373 MW of PV with 150 MW of battery storage. Its financial structure includes a CfD for solar, a capacity market contract for storage and a PPA.
These examples suggest that storage is increasingly being designed into solar projects rather than added later.
The UK provides an early model
The UK is presented as a European pioneer in PV-BESS hybrid projects, supported by capacity markets, long-term contracts and a regulatory framework that can reward flexibility.
For other European markets, the lesson is that renewable deployment will increasingly depend not only on how much capacity can be built, but on how effectively that capacity can be integrated into the electricity system.
The smarter E Europe 2026 will focus on this transition when it takes place at Messe München from 23rd to 25th June. More than 100,000 visitors and 2,800 exhibitors are expected across Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe and EM-Power Europe.
Battery technologies are already becoming a prominent part of the wider solar market.
The next phase of solar is therefore increasingly about combining generation with storage, grid infrastructure and intelligent operation. Flexibility is moving from a supporting function towards a fundamental part of renewable project design.
Read the full feature from The smarter E Europe on large storage projects, PV-BESS hybrid systems and energy flexibility in PES Solar: https://pes.eu.com/exclusive-articles/flexibility-is-key-for-the-next-energy-phase