pv magazine Week Europe - From cannibalization to flexibility: Rethinking Europe’s energy system

Now that renewables represent a significant share of Europe’s energy supply, electricity networks in key regions are struggling to manage intermittent generation, leading to cannibalization, negative prices, and long waits for grid connection — all of which threaten the viability of building more solar and the reliability of energy systems.

Leading markets like the UK and Italy have shown how allowing batteries to participate in more markets and services can foster rapid storage capacity growth. Further policy and market design updates will soon be needed to ensure this can continue once these batteries are all competing with each other.

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Key takeaways:
- Renewables growth is straining Europe’s grids with cannibalization, negative prices, and long connection queues.
- UK and Italy show how enabling batteries boosts storage growth.
- Further policy and market updates are needed to sustain investment and reliability.