Success Stories

The stoRE project developed recommendations for improving the regulatory and market framework conditions that affect energy storage in Europe. It is the first time that balanced recommendations are developed taking into account the views from over 500 stakeholders representing often opposing interests. As a result they have been well received and have contributed to the on-going dialogue, generating interest that resulted in presentation and promotion of the recommendations in:

- a meeting with the European Commission, addressing 8 DG Energy and DG Research representatives including Head of Units

- two events in the European Parliament with over 70 attendees in total, including 2 Members of the European Parliament, several representatives from DG Energy and DG Environment and other relevant stakeholders.

- one event in the high-level policy conference during EUSEW 2013 co-organised with EASE and Eurelectric, that attracted over 100 participants

- over 20 meetings with decision makes in the target countries where it has been agreed to implement parts of the developed action lists: an Energy Storage Platform was established in Spain with involvement of the respective ministry and more than 30 key actors; the Danish TSO contracted the project partner EMD to develop a tool that simulates commercial strategies for the operation of storage units in the intraday market; in Greece electricity storage has been included in the priorities of the new National Strategic Framework for Research and Innovation.

The high impact of the stoRE project has also been recognised in the IEA’s energy storage roadmap, where in the "Examples of government actions that have positively supported energy storage technology deployment", stoRE is the only initiative mentioned under the European Union heading.

The stoRE guidelines for developing new bulk Energy Storage facilities in environmentally sensitive areas provided project developers with an important tool that allows them to comply with the requirements of the relevant legislation, including the provisions of the Birds and Habitats Directive. During the development of this publication there has been cooperation with the European Commission and their contractors who are developing guidelines for the development of hydro projects in environmentally sensitive areas. The interaction resulted in exchange of useful information, while it ensured that the 2 documents will be complementary rather than overlapping.