When our Digital Renewables research team reviewed the European BESS market, it became clear that Italy is one of the most interesting countries for the battery storage sector. Like many other European states, Italy’s energy market is undergoing a significant transformation due to the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are becoming essential for maintaining grid stability, ensuring security of supply and reducing overall system costs during this transformation. The Italian market presents attractive opportunities, especially for investors. This is due to the diverse set of revenue streams that the Italian market offers. These include grid integration, system optimisation and participation in flexible energy trading. Italy currently has around 6 GW/17.4 GWh of installed battery storage capacity. The Italian government is seeking to increase BESS capacity to 15 GW by 2030. Current forecasts suggest that this could increase to 10.5 GW by 2030, with around 3 GW currently in the final stages of development and expected to be operational within three years. Therefore, there are still many opportunities for players in the BESS sector to participate in the Italian energy transformation.
To provide an overview of the sector and help its participants identify the most important battery storage investors, we have created a list of the world’s largest battery storage investors. Here, we present three major BESS investors active in Italy as an excerpt from this list. When selecting developers, we considered their latest activities, their current development pipeline, their regional reach and their future strategic decisions.
The Italian regulatory framework for BESS
The Italian BESS market is of particular interest because the Italian government offers an attractive regulatory framework for market participants. This includes multiple incentive schemes and regular updates to the grid code. Firstly, regulatory changes under the Text of Electricity Dispatching Rules (TIDE) will alter the BESS optimisation framework. Changes such as shifting from hourly to 15-minute intervals for intraday and imbalance pricing, and introducing dynamic bidding zones, will increase the complexity of the BESS sector, but will also offer new opportunities for revenue optimisation.
The main tool for attracting investment in the Italian BESS market is the auction process overseen by the Italian regulator and Transmission System Operator (TSO) Terna, which leads to contracted revenue streams for BESS projects. To increase the Italian BESS pipeline, Terna introduced the MACSE auction mechanism.
The Italian BESS auctions
The first BESS auction aimed to enable large-scale batteries to provide ultra-rapid frequency regulation services and support grid stability in Italy. Held in 2020, they resulted in 250 MW of BESS projects coming online in Italy under 5-year contracts (2023–2027). From 2022 onwards, several Capacity Market Auctions were held with the aim of ensuring adequate generation capacity for grid stability and addressing immediate grid reliability needs. Most of the Italian battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity online today is the result of these auctions. The capacity payments received by the bidders provided better revenue security, which boosted Italian BESS capacity.
Following these positive experiences, Terna introduced the MACSE auctions. Unlike the former market capacity auction, MACSE strictly addresses battery storage projects. The first MACSE auction is scheduled for September 2025 and will target 10 GWh of battery projects to be operational by 2027. The results of the auction were surprising. The tender closed at an average price of €12,959/MWh per year, which is significantly below the reserve price of €37,000/MWh/year set by the transmission system operator, Terna. A total of 15 projects were awarded across southern Italy, including Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. These projects are estimated to represent an investment of around €1 billion. Winning companies included Enel, Acl Energy, Renewable AdVenture, Whysol, GreenVolt Power, Eni and NatPower.
Investment activities in the Italian BESS market in 2025
It’s no surprise that investors are keen to invest in the Italian energy storage sector, given the attractive auction conditions. As we have previously mentioned, €1 billion has been invested through the MACSE auctions. By far the biggest investor in the auction was Enel Green Power, which won the auction for five projects with capacities ranging from 250MWh to 3,600MWh.
In our transaction database, we record further significant renewable energy deals. As you can see there is a lot of movement in the Italian BESS market. So far, we have identified four deals in the battery storage sector for 2025. The number and scale of these deals highlight the attractiveness of the Italian BESS market to investors.
We will present some of these in more detail below.
Zenith Energy Acquires 22 MW of Solar Projects in Italy
Zenith Energy’s subsidiary WESOLAR S.R.L. has acquired two solar development projects totaling 22 MWp in Piedmont and Puglia, including an 18 MWp agrivoltaic plant and a 4 MWp solar project with a 2 MW BESS component, bringing its portfolio to 98.5 MWp.
Sonnedix Acquires 226MW of Renewable Projects in Italy
Sonnedix acquires five renewable projects totaling 226 MW from Capital Dynamics in Sicily and Lazio, Italy. With four projects operational and one under construction, Sonnedix surpasses 800 MW capacity and begins its first 18 MW BESS project, on track to reach 1 GW by year end.
B.Grimm Power Expands into Italy with 218 MW Apulia Green Energy Battery Storage Project
B.Grimm Power has acquired the 218 MW Apulia Green Energy battery energy storage project in Italy, expanding its clean energy portfolio in Europe to nearly 600 MW under its Green Leap: Global & Green strategy.
Enfinity Global Sells 49% Stake in Italian BESS Portfolio to Daiwa
Enfinity Global sells a 49% minority stake in Italian battery storage project (Veneto, 130 MW/520 MWh) to Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure. Projects to begin operations in 2027, enhancing grid resilience and supporting rising energy demand.
Source: Rabobank,
Picture Source: Sungrow EMEA, via Unsplash
