First-ever EU tripartite agreement signed to boost energy storage

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has rallied a number of EU energy ministers, storage developers and manufacturers, renewable energy developers, energy-consuming industries and financial institutions around the first-ever EU tripartite agreement on energy storage. The signature took place in the margins of the Council of energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg today. The objective of this first tripartite is to accelerate the deployment of storage in the short term, which will make the electricity system more secure and flexible. The launch of this tripartite agreement marks another important step towards delivering a decarbonised system that is more efficient and able to deliver cheaper energy.

Energy storage is the missing link of the energy transition and can play a key role in lowering and stabilising energy prices. The EU needs to expand homegrown renewables to reduce its dependency on volatile fossil fuel markets and strengthen security of supply. However, increasing renewable energy alone is not enough. It needs to come together with an optimisation of the way the energy system functions. In this framework, storage is essential. Storing energy until it is most needed can improve the integration of renewables and deliver greater benefits to consumers.

This first-of-its-kind tripartite agreement will help create a favourable business environment for scaling up storage quickly and at scale across Europe. It will help reduce system operating costs, ease pressure from high and volatile energy prices on EU businesses, while sending a strong market signal and strengthening EU manufacturing capacity in this sector.

As part of the agreement, 22 EU Member States committed to ambitious pledges for energy storage over the next two years. Taken together, these pledges account to between 30-35 GW of storage capacity.

Commitments under the tripartite agreement on energy storage

As part of the agreement, developers of energy storage and renewable energy projects will provide yearly estimates of new energy storage and hybrid projects and their volumes, while energy-consuming industries have committed to developing energy storage projects at their own sites and to giving clearer information about when and how much electricity they use. This visibility on the projects pipeline is essential to provide clarity and certainty to investors.

On their side, Member States will support the energy storage sector by removing barriers that slow progress. They committed to enable the National Regulatory Authorities to set or approve cost-reflective and non-discriminatory network tariffs that stimulate flexibility. Where necessary, Member States will provide financial support for energy storage rollout and manufacturing through national and EU funding, and in line with State aid rules, such as the Clean Industrial State Aid Framework (CISAF).

As an important contribution in the implementation of the agreed actions, financial institutions (namely national and regional banks, including promotional ones)will share expertise on storage projects to make them more attractive to investors, and work with the EIB Group and one another to increase the impact of funding for storage solutions.

The Commission will support EU Member States in creating funding schemes for storage and help the decarbonisation of energy-consuming industries, including through the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank. It will also explore ways of supporting energy storage deployment under the Innovation Fund, update network rules to encourage storage deployment, and  assess possible ways to improve how public sector transition investments match EU environmental objectives when reviewing the Taxonomy Disclosure rules in early 2027.

Next steps

The Commission will lead and coordinate the delivery of this tripartite agreement’s objectives and will track progress on a yearly basis until 2028. It will also support exchanges between the signatories on challenges and best practices in energy storage through the Energy Union Task Force, regional groups and other existing forums, such as the Concerted Action for Renewable Energy Sources (CA-RES).

Background

It is estimated that the EU requires around 200 GW of storage capacity by 2030 to meet the needs of its energy system, compared with around 55 GW installed at the beginning of this year. Achieving this objective will require a substantial acceleration of different storage technologies, coupled with renewables and other sources of non-fossil flexibility.

The European Council in its Conclusions of 19 March 2026 also called for an acceleration in the deployment and integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets and enhance security of supply. The concept of tripartite agreements was introduced in the Affordable Energy Action Plan. They are intended to bring together the main stakeholders in a given energy sector from the industry, public authorities and financial institutions, around a shared set of commitments aimed at reducing investment risks. By doing so, they can help lower energy prices in the short term and, more structurally, for EU industry and businesses over time.

For more information

EU-level tripartite agreements

Tripartite agreement for energy storage

Tripartite agreement for energy storage project examples