Europe's BESS financing market grew faster in 2025 than in any previous year. Modo Energy tracked 77 financing deals across 13 countries, more than triple the 25 recorded in 2024. Disclosed debt rose from EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 5.0 billion. The lending base widened, tolling agreements spread, and institutional investors backed multi-gigawatt BESS pipelines.

This is the first edition of Modo Energy's European BESS financing report, providing a non-exhaustive list of recorded deals in 2025. Future editions will provide quarterly updates.

Key takeaways

• Deal count more than tripled from 25 to 77 in 2025. Disclosed debt rose from EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 5.0 billion, driven by both higher volumes and larger individual transactions.
• Standalone BESS accounted for 88% of total deal count, up from 63% in 2024. Co-located solar-plus-storage made up the remainder.
• Germany led deal count with 25 transactions. Italy emerged as Europe's third most active market with 12 deals. The UK delivered Europe's largest BESS project finance close at 1.4 GW with Thorpe Marsh.
• Standalone tolling agreements rose from 3 to 15. A further 4 project finance deals involved tolling counterparties, bringing the total to 19.
• Merchant revenue underpinned 43% of deals. Markets with less trading history, such as Finland, relied entirely on contracted revenue. The pattern suggests merchant financing becomes accessible only as markets mature.

For more information reach out to the author - cosima@modoenergy.com.

European BESS deal count tripled in 2025

The 77 deals carried a total disclosed value of EUR 7.5 billion. Activity accelerated through the year, with over two thirds of deals happening in H2. Q4 alone accounted for 35 transactions, 45% of the annual total, as lenders grew more comfortable with BESS risk and development pipelines maturing to financial close.

What types of deals dominated?

Project finance accounted for 47% of deals, while acquisitions made up 27%.

The growth of acquisitions alongside project finance points to a maturing secondary market. Developers are building, then selling operational assets to long-term holders.

Platform-level equity also scaled. Partners Group committed EUR 400 million to Green Flexibility. Harmony Energy raised EUR 354 million. APG backed Return Energy with EUR 300 million. These commitments came from pension funds seeking exposure to multi-gigawatt pipelines rather than individual projects. In turn, equity raised will convert into further project finance over the next 12 to 24 months.

Tolling agreements proliferated. Standalone tolling deals rose from 3 in 2024 to 15 in 2025, with 6 of 15 in Germany. A further 4 project finance deals involved tolling counterparties. In total, tolling featured in 19 transactions, making it the fastest-growing revenue structure in European BESS.

Which lenders were most active?

Santander led by deal count with five European BESS transactions. NatWest followed with four. NordLB, ING, and BNP Paribas each participated in three.