Event debrief - inspiratia's Energy Storage Summit Munich 2025

Last week, inspiratia headed to Munich to host this year's Energy Storage Summit Europe.

The conference, held on 30 October, attracted developers, lenders, advisers, market analysts, and policy makers to share their insights and trade their expertise on the opportunities and challenges facing the European storage sector.

The summit kicked off with opening remarks from Olaf Beyme, Head of European Origination for NORD/LB.

We then moved to a presentation from Pierre Lebon, Director of Analytics EMEA at cQuant, which focused on the importance of reliable data and insightful analytics for understanding the complex European storage landscape - one that differs dramatically by country.

Panel 1 - Financing BESS

Our first panel tackled a key question in the broader European BESS market: how to finance storage projects?

Panelists included:

• Niels Jakeman - Head of Origination Europe at Nord/LB
• Gayatri Desai - Managing Director, Global Corporate Banking at CIBC
• Jing Liu - Head of Power and Renewables at SMBC
• Dhruv Menon - CFO of Ampyr Solar Europe
• Heather Offord - Investment Director, EMEA at Eku Energy

Moderated by Alexander Wojtek, Partner at Bird & Bird.

Panelists explored all the key elements, from the evolution of lending appetites for BESS assets, changing approaches to creating bankable storage business cases, and how to apply the lessons learned from the UK market in mainland Europe.

Panel 2 - Innovations in Offtake

Our second panel focused on how innovative offtake approaches are emerging, both in Germany and across wider Europe.

Panelists included:

• Joshua Murphy - Head of Storage at Econergy Renewable Energy
• Laura Hoffmann-Ostenhof - Central Europe Industry Lead at Gridcog
• Zach Williams - GB and Europe Battery Market Analyst at Modo Energy
• Lars Löhle - CCO of Entrix

Moderated by Maria Zaheer, Partner and Head of North America at Alexa Capital.

Speakers discussed the benefits and complexities of tolling agreements and variable repayment structures and approached how to best handle the volatile revenue profiles of BESS projects – a particular challenge in the German market.

Modo Energy Workshop

During our first networking break, Zach Williams and Till Stehr hosted a workshop on the future of German BESS revenues beyond ancillary services, drawing on results from Modo Energy's German forecast model.

They explored what Germany can learn from more mature markets like Great Britain, how far along it is on that path, and what opportunities remain once ancillary service markets saturate.

The session covered fundamental forecasts for demand, renewable generation, and gas and carbon prices - showing how these drivers feed through into battery revenues and how much storage capacity the market could ultimately support.

The discussion ended with a lively Q&A led by Pablo Cervo from NORD/LB, who challenged the team with the same tough questions lenders pose to market advisers about bankable revenue curves.

Panel 3 - Developers' Spotlight: Navigating Grid Connections

Our third panel – navigating grid connections – put developers in the spotlight with yet another pressing challenge: how can network bottlenecks be overcome?

Panelists included:

• Hannah Staab - Project Director at CIP
• Roy Amner - Business Development Director at Starlight Energy
• Angel Chatalbashev - Senior Battery Expert at Enery
• Julian Gerstner - Managing Director and Co-Founder at MIRAI Power
• Casimir Lorenz - Managing Director for Central Europe at Aurora Energy Research

Moderated by Charlotte Whight, Partner at HSF Kramer.

The panelists compared the regulatory benefits and drawbacks of operating in different countries across Europe, had a frank discussion about grid connection fees, and discussed how developers can create bulletproof business cases for their storage projects.

Presentation - Europe's Energy Storage Landscape: Data Signals from a Market in Transition

As we came back from our networking lunch break, our very own Head of Analysis, Oliver Carr, took to the stage to speak about the current state of the European battery project pipeline, and how Central Eastern Europe in particular is driving excitement for lenders and developers alike.

Panel 4 - All Eyes on Germany

The fourth panel of the event – All Eyes on Germany – homed in on German BESS to understand the country-specific opportunities and challenges for would-be developers and lenders in the market.

Panelists included:

• Tom Smout - Head of Storage at LCP Delta
• Florian Hock - Senior Director, Energy Origination Europe at NORD/LB
• Amós Guillén Duarte - Country Manager at FRV Germany
• Christoph Linhardt - Grid Planning and Analysts Specialist at TenneT TSO GmbH

Moderated by Hermann Rothfuchs, Partner at Bird & Bird.

Our speakers reviewed the issues that make Germany's grid complex to operate within, identified the pain points that will require legislative and societal support, and debated how else the German market can change to create better conditions for developers - and meet the country's pressing storage needs in the process.

Panel 5 - Southern Europe

Our fifth panel took us from Germany to Southern Europe, to discuss Italy – one of the largest BESS markets in Europe – and Spain.

Panelists included:

• Rodrigo Rodríguez-Ponga - Head of Transactions at nTeaser
• Pablo Trincado Fores - Structured and Project Finance Director at OX2
• Simon Kornek - Vice President South European Origination at Statkraft
• Panagiotis Dimitrakopoulos - Business Developer – New Countries at ContourGlobal

Moderated by Filippo Chiesa, Chief Investment Officer at Galileo.

The panelists dissected the results of the first MACSE auction, drawing out lessons for later iterations and similar prospective auctions in other countries, while also assessing the outlook for co-located and standalone BESS options across other hotspots in Southern Europe.

Panel 6 - CEE - Gaining First Mover Advantage

After a networking break, our speakers returned for our final panel, which explored the potential for BESS development across Central Eastern Europe, where ambitious battery storage targets are taking hold.

Panelists included:

• Ahmad El Mokadem - Senior Banker at EBRD
• Olena Reznik - Investment Director at Mirova
• Jakub Fedorowicz - Head of M&A at R.Power
• Alberto Covelli - Director Infrastructure & Export Financing at Unicredit
• Javier Flamarique - Director, Project Finance at Econergy

Moderated by Leonard Mueller, Reporter at inspiratia.

The panelists gave a clear picture of the CEE landscape: what the challenges are, what has driven success for tenders so far in the region, and where learning curves and pitfalls may be found in these nascent BESS markets.

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We're very excited to welcome you back for next year's event!

In the meantime, join us this November in London for inspiratia's Energy Transition Awards. Either follow the link, or get in touch at conferences@inspiratia.com, to secure your tickets.