The money will go towards grid-scale batteries to help transmission system operators balance the grid.
The European Commission has approved €19.8 million (US$20.1 million) in state aid from the government of Croatia to energy storage operator IE-Energy for a series of grid-connected projects.
The aid will be a direct grant to IE-Energy and will cover approximately 30% of capital expenditures for a series of grid-scale battery energy storage systems.
The systems will be installed on the Croatian grid to help the transmission system operator (TSO) HOPS (Hrvatski operator prijenosnog sustava) balance supply and demand and to store energy for when needed.
The Commission, the executive arm of the EU, concluded that the aid was necessary and appropriate to address an existing market failure, citing a lack of incentives to provide balancing services to TSOs with…