Energy companies need new solutions to meet rising demand without causing price spikes or slowing the energy transition. On this front, battery storage could help optimize existing power-grid infrastructure — the tools and capital exist; now, resolve and regulation are needed. While this solution is highly relevant to the U.S., where growth and affordability concerns are top of mind, the concept is also applicable globally.

Electricity demand is rising fast, driven by electrification, AI, and data centers, as well as expanding access to reliable power globally. Simultaneously, the power sector is facing an affordability crisis. So, how can energy companies serve this new demand and modernize the grid without driving prices higher for consumers?

The increasing ubiquity of storage globally provides an unprecedented opportunity to use batteries to optimize existing grid infrastructure to meet this growing demand and place downward pressure on prices. The tools and capital are currently being deployed. Now all we need are the resolve and regulatory structures to act.

Kommunalkredit Austria AG’s Gareth Foulkes-Jones discusses the growing role of battery storage in European energy markets and considers the commercial and financing factors that sit alongside the technology.