State Aid for Electricity Storage in Europe

Executive Brief

Electricity storage has become a significant recipient of public support across the European Union. Since 2022, a growing number of Member States have notified schemes to the European Commission to accelerate investment in batteries and other forms of electricity storage.

The measures differ substantially. Some provide direct investment grants. Others combine investment support with operating aid or use competitive procurement mechanisms to secure storage capacity over several years. Some schemes are explicitly limited to battery systems, while others are technology-neutral or designed to accommodate longer-duration storage.

Italy represents by far the largest single scheme identified in this briefing: in December 2023, the European Commission approved an Italian mechanism with an estimated budget of €17.7 billion to support the development of a centralised electricity-storage system. Spain received approval for a €350 million storage scheme in July 2023, Hungary for a €1.1 billion scheme in June 2023, and Greece for a €341 million programme in September 2022.

More recent measures confirm that public support is continuing to expand. Romania received a new €150 million electricity-storage scheme in March 2026, while Slovenia received approval in July 2026 for a €59 million scheme targeting at least 370 MWh of new standalone battery-storage capacity. Bulgaria is deploying a large storage investment through its Recovery and Resilience Plan: the RESTORE programme is backed by €603 million in EU funding and targets 3,000 MWh of usable grid-scale storage capacity.

These headline figures should nevertheless be interpreted carefully. An authorised State-aid budget is not the same as expenditure already made, and some schemes combine storage with renewable generation or other investments. Moreover, MW, MWh, duration and actual delivery dates are not reported consistently across national programmes.

1. Legal Basis and State Aid Framework

State aid for electricity storage is generally assessed under Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which allows the European Commission to declare aid compatible with the internal market where it facilitates the development of certain economic activities and does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest.

Article 108 TFEU provides the procedural basis for Commission control of State aid. Member States must in principle notify new aid measures to the Commission and may implement them only after the applicable State aid requirements have been satisfied, unless an exemption applies.

For energy and electricity-storage measures, the Treaty provisions are applied through the relevant State aid rules and policy frameworks. The principal framework for climate, environmental protection and energy measures is the 2022 Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (CEEAG).

Depending on the date, objective and design of the scheme, measures may also have been assessed under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) or, since 25 June 2025, under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF). CISAF replaced the TCTF for new measures, while schemes already approved under the TCTF may continue until their planned expiry.

2. Overview of National Support

The most important measures identified so far are summarised below.

The figures are not fully additive. Italy's €17.7 billion mechanism, for example, has a very different structure and time horizon from a conventional investment-grant programme. Bulgaria's RESTORE figure is an RRF investment contribution and should also be labelled carefully when compared with standard State-aid budgets.

3. Greece

Greece was among the first Member States to establish a major dedicated support mechanism for electricity storage.

On 5 September 2022, the Commission approved State Aid SA.64736, with an estimated budget of €341 million. The programme supports the construction and operation of electricity-storage facilities connected to the Greek electricity system.

The scheme aimed to support up to 900 MW of storage capacity and was partly financed through the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Projects were to be selected through competitive procedures.

The support model was noteworthy because it combined investment assistance with operating support rather than relying exclusively on an upfront capital grant.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Greece – Grid and Storage Capacity / Storage Investments

4. Hungary

On 21 June 2023, the Commission approved a Hungarian scheme with a budget of €1.1 billion to support electricity-storage facilities.

The programme was approved under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework and was intended to accelerate storage deployment as renewable generation increased in the Hungarian system.

The size of the programme makes Hungary one of the largest beneficiaries of storage-specific public support outside Italy.

The measure was designed to support investment in storage installations rather than simply provide general support to renewable generators.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Hungary – National Funding Portal

5. Italy

Italy is the most significant case in financial terms.

On 21 December 2023, the European Commission approved an Italian State-aid scheme with an estimated budget of €17.7 billion for the development of a centralised electricity-storage system.

Unlike several national programmes centred on conventional battery grants, the Italian mechanism is essentially a system-level procurement instrument.

The mechanism is intended to support new storage capacity needed for the integration of renewable electricity and to procure that capacity through competitive procedures.

This makes the Italian programme particularly important because it can accommodate different storage technologies and duration characteristics rather than simply subsidising the acquisition of battery systems.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Terna – MACSE: Rules and Documentation

6. Bulgaria

Bulgaria is pursuing one of the EU's most substantial storage investments through the RESTORE – National Infrastructure for Storage of Electricity programme.

The project has an EU contribution of €603 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and targets the installation of 3,000 MWh of usable grid-scale electricity-storage capacity.

The facilities are to be distributed across Bulgaria and located close to renewable-generation capacity.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Bulgaria – RESTORE National Storage Programme

7. Czechia

Czech public support for storage has often been integrated into wider renewable-energy investment programmes rather than presented as a single, standalone national battery scheme.

An important example is the RES+ programme, which supports large photovoltaic installations together with electricity storage.

The relevant support provides direct grants and is expected to contribute substantial new electricity-storage capacity alongside new renewable generating capacity by 2030.

This is a good example of why storage-specific and mixed renewable-plus-storage schemes should be kept separate in aggregate statistics. The entire renewable-support budget cannot be attributed to storage.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Czechia – Modernisation Fund / RES+ Calls

8. Spain

On 7 July 2023, the Commission approved a €350 million Spanish scheme under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support electricity-storage facilities.

The programme was designed to promote storage technologies and facilitate the integration of increasing renewable generation into the Spanish electricity system.

Spain is particularly relevant because of the rapid expansion of solar generation and the associated need to shift electricity between periods of high midday production and later demand.

The Spanish programme has included support for innovative storage technologies rather than being exclusively framed around standard lithium-ion systems.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Spain – IDAE Electricity Storage Funding Programmes

9. Romania

Romania provides an example of successive storage-support programmes.

In March 2023, the Commission approved a €103 million scheme supporting battery electricity-storage facilities. Projects were to be selected through competitive bidding.

Aid was capped according to the project's funding gap and specific ceilings per installed storage capacity and per beneficiary.

Romania subsequently amended the scheme and introduced a new, larger measure in 2026.

In March 2026, the Commission approved a €150 million Romanian scheme targeting at least 2,174 MWh of additional electricity-storage capacity.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: n.a.

10. Slovenia

Slovenia has developed storage support through more than one programme.

In June 2023, the Commission approved a €150 million Slovenian scheme covering renewable electricity, renewable heat and energy storage. Because this was a broader clean-energy scheme, the full €150 million cannot automatically be attributed to storage.

A more specific storage measure was approved in July 2026.

The Commission approved a €59 million Slovenian State-aid scheme supporting standalone battery energy-storage systems and targeting at least 370 MWh of new storage capacity.

Separately, Slovenia has also allocated national funds to business-level battery systems.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Slovenia – Borzen Electricity Storage Incentives

11. Poland and Other Relevant Schemes

Poland notified a dedicated measure for electricity storage and related infrastructure in 2024.

The Commission approved State Aid SA.112460 on 3 October 2024. The measure was intended to accelerate investment in storage installations capable of contributing to grid stability and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

The Polish programme is important because it reflects the growing role of storage in a power system still undergoing major structural transformation.

Other countries also operate support mechanisms where storage may participate indirectly, including capacity mechanisms and renewable-energy programmes. These should be analysed separately from dedicated storage aid because storage competes there with generation, demand response or other flexibility resources.

➜ Check National Implementation and Updates: Poland – Electricity Storage and Related Infrastructure Programme

12. Comparison of National Support Models

The programmes reviewed fall broadly into four categories.

Investment grants reduce the initial capital cost of storage projects. Romania, Spain and several smaller national schemes largely follow this model.

Investment plus operating aid can support both initial construction and subsequent revenue requirements. Greece's original programme provides an example.

Competitive system-level procurement purchases storage capacity or availability rather than subsidising a specific piece of equipment. Italy represents the clearest large-scale example.

Mixed renewable-and-storage programmes provide support to generation and storage within the same investment framework, as seen in parts of the Czech and Slovenian programmes.

The financial figures associated with these models are therefore not directly interchangeable.

13. Technologies and Storage Duration

The support landscape remains dominated by electrochemical storage, particularly lithium-ion batteries.

This reflects their commercial maturity, relatively short construction periods, high round-trip efficiency and suitability for daily cycling, balancing and short-duration flexibility.

However, not all schemes are restricted to batteries. Italy's central procurement model is particularly relevant to longer-duration technologies, while Spain has supported innovative storage projects. Pumped hydro and other technologies may also qualify under broader national frameworks.

Duration is a critical but inconsistently reported parameter.

Both can be described publicly as “500 MW of storage”, while providing very different system services. This is one of the most important limitations in current public reporting.

14. Funding Instruments and Selection Procedures

Competitive selection is common across the major schemes. This is consistent with EU State-aid rules, which seek to limit support to the amount necessary for an investment to proceed.

National mechanisms nevertheless use different forms of remuneration:

• upfront grants;
• operating support;
• availability payments;
• competitive capacity procurement;
• long-term contracts;
• mixed public/private financing.

These differences affect both project economics and the meaning of the headline State-aid budget.

15. Issues Requiring Attention

Data are not standardised. Some schemes report MW, others MWh, and others primarily report budget.

Authorised aid is often confused with actual expenditure. Commission approval creates a legal ceiling; it does not show how much money has already reached projects.

Programme duration matters. A long-term multi-billion-euro mechanism cannot be compared directly with a one-off capital-grant programme without accounting for the financial structure.

Storage duration is not always clearly disclosed. This makes it difficult to assess how much usable flexibility public expenditure actually buys.

Mixed programmes create attribution problems. Where renewable generation and storage receive support under the same budget, the entire programme should not be classified as storage aid.

Supported capacity does not necessarily equal European industrial production. Projects installed in Europe may still rely heavily on imported cells and components.

Different national subsidy levels may influence investment location. Developers may prioritise markets where public support is strongest. This should be monitored, although the available evidence does not by itself demonstrate harmful distortion.

16. Conclusions

State support for electricity storage has moved from a relatively limited set of pilot programmes to a substantial component of European electricity investment.

The programmes identified in this eBriefing range from hundreds of millions of euros in direct investment support to Italy's multi-billion-euro centralised storage procurement mechanism.

The forms of support are becoming increasingly diverse. Some Member States focus primarily on battery systems, others integrate storage with renewable generation, while Italy has developed a broader system for procuring new storage capacity. Newer programmes in Romania and Slovenia show that dedicated storage support is continuing to expand.

No single financial total fully captures the phenomenon.

The nominal budgets should not simply be added together without distinguishing State-aid ceilings from expenditure; capital grants from long-term operating commitments; dedicated storage programmes from mixed renewable schemes; EU funding from national public expenditure; MW from MWh; and short-duration batteries from longer-duration storage.

For investors and electricity-sector operators, the trend is nevertheless clear: public support has become an important driver of Europe's electricity-storage build-out, and national support mechanisms are likely to remain a significant element of project economics during the current deployment phase.

For policymakers and market observers, the more useful question is no longer simply how many billions of euros have been approved. It is how much operational storage capacity those programmes ultimately deliver, at what duration, under what contractual conditions and at what public cost.

That is the basis on which the different national schemes can eventually be compared meaningfully.

References

• European Commission – State aid decisions and press releases concerning electricity-storage support schemes.
  European Commission – State Aid Latest News and Decisions
• European Commission – Recovery and Resilience Facility country plans and project fiches.
  European Commission – Recovery and Resilience Facility
• European Commission – Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (CEEAG).
  State Aid Legislation for Energy and Environment
• European Commission – Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework.
  Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework
• European Commission – Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework.
  Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF)
• European Commission – Greece.
  State Aid SA.64736 – Greek scheme under the Recovery and Resilience Facility supporting electricity-storage facilities.
• European Commission – Hungary.
  State aid approval for the Hungarian electricity-storage support scheme, €1.1 billion, June 2023.
• European Commission – Italy.
  State aid approval for the €17.7 billion Italian scheme supporting a centralised electricity-storage system, 21 December 2023.
• European Commission – Bulgaria.
  National Infrastructure for Storage of Electricity – RESTORE
• European Commission – Romania, 2023.
  State Aid SA.102761 – €103 million Romanian scheme supporting construction of electricity-storage facilities.
• European Commission – Romania, 2026.
  State Aid SA.121308 – €150 million Romanian electricity-storage scheme targeting at least 2,174 MWh of new capacity.
• European Commission – Poland.
  State Aid SA.112460 – Commission Decision C(2024) 7046 final

Annex A. Comparative Table of National Schemes