Industry leaders have recommended that buyers purchasing battery energy storage systems (BESS) look past the sticker prices and headlines during a period of 2015 pv magazine Webinar Week Europe 2025.
In a session on what to look for when purchasing BESS, held as part of pv magazineDuring last week’s virtual conference, panelists discussed pricing, supplier and product reliability, and the prospects for battery storage in Europe.
Ed Mulloy, Solution Engineer at Accure Battery Intelligence, said that because of the industry’s fixation on $/kWh, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are incentivized to “take the risk out of that number and build it into the contract instead.”
“The true cost of a battery goes well beyond $/kWh,” he said. “It’s also in the contract and that’s where we see a lot of buyers win and lose. The price may look good, but you have to be aware of the liabilities you inherit, which can reduce savings.”
“A good contract has clear definitions, competitive, benchmarked values, aligns with your real-world usage and gives you flexibility for future market or revenue changes,” Mulloy added. “A bad contract, even if the price is high, can quietly erode your returns over the life of your project.”
‘Look at the price versus quality ratio’
In a panel on supplier selection and technology considerations, Stefano Alberici, VP Technology EMEA at HyperStrong International, expanded the discussion around pricing and advised buyers to look at value for money, rather than the price itself.
“The price itself is a bit misleading. The price is due to the way you process your product, the way you make it, the way you test it, the way you calibrate it, the way you certify it. If you don’t want any nasty surprises on the site, all of these things have to be done for that,” Alberici said, before adding that a focus on price alone often leads to a product being expensive, rather than well tested and of higher quality.
“When we talk about factory acceptance testing or site acceptance testing or certifications, all these kinds of things have to be in place,” Alberici added. “How can I invest millions of euros in a project that should last twenty years, or maybe even longer, while I think I have to hope that it works now? No way.”
When asked about customer preferences in Europe, Edward Rackley, Head of Energy Storage at CRU Group, predicted that the market will see more integrated products, whether AC or DC. “It’s much easier for an asset owner that has a failure or needs to discuss a warranty to pick up the phone with one supplier, rather than looking at 10 different component suppliers and deconvolving that,” he said.
Alberici also advised investors to double check whether their system integrator is also in the territory. “In my opinion, the sales process is not just about selling the system, but about selling the system, all the way to the end of its life,” he added.
‘Not all factories are equal’
The conversation then turned to choosing a reliable supplier. Panelists told attendees to consider whether the supplier they choose has a good track record and has produced at scale before. It was also recommended to communicate the project use case to suppliers, and where possible, ask suppliers for case studies and supplier data.
Arthur Claire, director of technology at Sinovoltaics, added that it is important to clarify which factory a supplier uses to manufacture a product. He shared examples of customers realizing they were buying from a brand where the BESS was manufactured in a factory they had never heard of, rather than in the brand’s main factory.
Claire specifically warned against the use of third-party factories used as additional capacity for frontline players. “You can’t expect the same quality,” he said. “All factories are certainly not the same, so if you make it clear which factory you use, [and] including it in the contract may be the right thing to do.”
Rackley also gave a presentation on the outlook for energy storage battery prices for European BESS producers, saying that CRU expects lithium iron phosphate to remain the cheapest battery storage chemistry this decade, with technology costs offsetting rising material prices in the near term.
“The oversupply in the industry, especially in the mid-market, will continue, especially in the medium term,” Rackley added. “We expect this to keep prices of energy storage systems low, which is great for procurers looking for battery storage for their projects.”
