Great Britain's new Slow Reserve product cleared its first auction on 31 March 2026. Gas took 75% of the 1,800 MW requirement. Batteries showed up overnight and disappeared by morning. The auction's welfare-maximising algorithm cleared two periods at £0/MW/h despite no unit bidding at zero. And in the Balancing Mechanism, holding a Slow Reserve contract made no difference to how much batteries were used, despite technical requirements implying longer dispatches.

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Grid-forming: From niche upgrade to standard requirement

Commercial incentives are driving grid-forming BESS into the mainstream. GB, Australia, and Germany now pay for grid-forming capability in new projects - and some markets may soon make it mandatory.

France’s regulator redesigns its solar tender to incentivise co-located batteries

Research and Analysis

2 days ago

France’s regulator redesigns its solar tender to incentivise co-located batteries

France's energy regulator is redesigning its solar CfD scheme to incentivise co-located batteries. We explain what changes for negative-price compensation, how the reference price switch transfers cannibalisation risk to developers, and what Germany's hybrid tender trajectory implies for French project economics.

SPP Buildout 2026 Q1: Surplus Cluster brings batteries to 550 MW

Battery Buildout

5 days ago

SPP Buildout 2026 Q1: Surplus Cluster brings batteries to 550 MW

Grid-scale batteries in SPP reach 550 MW after Skeleton Creek adds 252 MW. A further 2 GW with signed GIAs targets commercial operation in 2026.

Has Spain’s power system decoupled from natural gas?

Market updates

5 days ago

Has Spain’s power system decoupled from natural gas?

This article tackles the question if Spain has decoupled from natural gas. While CCGTs are increasingly absent from the day-ahead market, they re-enter the system through the technical restrictions market. The cost of this mechanism is passed through to consumers and rises in lockstep with TTF prices. For BESS investors, in these instances, the opportunity could lie in the technical restrictions market rather than the day-ahead.

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