The French energy market is unique within the European Union, primarily because of its significant reliance on nuclear energy, which accounts for approximately 70% of the country’s electricity generation. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, only account for around 15%. This is a drastic difference compared to other European countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. This also leads to lower demand for battery storage projects in France. Nevertheless, France currently has around 1 GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity, with an additional 8 GW of new BESS projects that have already secured grid connection rights. This represents France’s ambitious goal of making the BESS sector more attractive and evolving their energy market towards greater focus on renewables. As you can see, the French BESS market is undergoing a fundamental transition with unique circumstances.
To provide an overview of the sector and help its participants identify the most important battery storage developers, we have created a list of the world’s largest battery storage developers. Here, we present three major BESS developers from France as an excerpt from this list. Our renewables.digital research teams identified EDF, Engie and Neoen as the largest Battery storage developers in France. When selecting developers, we considered their latest activities, their current development pipeline, their regional reach and their future strategic decisions.
1. Neoen (Madrid)
Neoen is one of the world’s leading independent producers of renewable energy. The company is owned and backed by Brookfield Renewable Partners, one of the world’s largest investors in renewable energy. Neoen’s total operational and construction capacity across wind, solar and storage assets amounts to 8.5 GW, and the company intends to install another 10 GW by 2030. Two of their flagship projects are the Western Downs Battery (212 MW/424 MWh) and the Collie Battery (219 MW/877 MWh), which are among the world’s most powerful large-scale storage systems. They have also started operating a 300 MW Victorian Big Battery in Australia. Their total battery storage portfolio amounts to 2,196 MW/5,739 MWh. Most of this is in foreign markets. However, given the changes to the regulatory framework in France and the further expansion of renewable energy assets, it is expected that Neoen will also shift towards its home market.
2. Engie SA (Paris)
Engie SA is a Paris-based energy company that focuses on generating electricity from renewable energy sources and developing them. With 98,000 employees in 30 countries, ENGIE is one of the world’s largest renewable energy developers. ENGIE has installed over 46 GW of renewable energy across all asset classes. Regarding its battery storage projects, Engie has intensified its operations, growing its operational battery capacity to 2.6 GW. By 2030, Engie aims to have an installed capacity of 10 GW worldwide. Engie has BESS projects in Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany. Two of their largest projects, the Hazelwood storage project (150 MWh) and the Sun Valley project (combining a 250 MW solar photovoltaic plant and 100 MW battery storage), are located in Australia and Texas respectively.
3. EDF power solutions (Paris)
EDF Power Solutions is the merger of EDF Renewables and EDF’s International Division. It develops, builds and operates renewable and low-carbon power plants, as well as flexibility solutions and transmission assets. By combining their expertise within one company, EDF Power Solutions is able to develop a wide range of renewable energy assets, from traditional sources such as solar, wind and hydro, to battery storage, low-carbon thermal energy and hydrogen projects. In 2018, the EDF Group launched a Storage Plan providing for the installation of 10 GW of new electricity storage capacity by 2035. EDF has so far focused more on foreign markets such as Germany and Chile, where it is a key player in the development of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.
About the list of the largest Battery Storage Developers in the world
Columns included in the list of the biggest Battery Storage Developers in the world
- Company data (Company Name, Legal form, Country of origin)
- Contact details (Country, City, Address, Postcode, URL, E-Mail, Phone, Management)
- Area of activity (Onshore Wind, Offshore Wind, Solar, Hydro, Tidal, Hydrogen projects, Geothermal, Energy storage, Biomass)
- Special Focus (PPAs, Repowering)
- Further information (Regional Focus, Founding year, installed capacity in MW)
Covered regions
Our list includes wind energy investors from the following regions:
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- North America
- South America
- Oceania
Picture Source: Sungrow EMEA via Unsplash
