Trends for 2026: Three developments that will shape battery storage

2026 is likely to be defined less by a single ‘upheaval’ and more by a series of clearly discernible shifts that have already been building up in recent months. Battery storage will be more closely integrated into existing infrastructure, grid connection conditions will become more fragmented and restrictive, and revenues will remain attractive –

but increasingly location- and contract-driven. At the same time, new, potentially more stable revenue streams will emerge through system services and grid-related mechanisms.  

The following three trends show what project developers, operators, investors and marketers will need to pay particular attention to in 2026.

1) Co-location instead of stand-alone

In many projects, co-location is evolving from a special case to a standard solution. The main driver is pragmatic: if grid connection capacity, space or technical infrastructure are already available at the site, additional flexibility can often be achieved more efficiently than with a complete stand-alone connection. Co-location is therefore not only a lever foroptimisation, but increasingly a response to real connection and approval conditions.

The development is particularly dynamic in the area of green electricity storage. A significant increase in projects can beobserved here – even outside of innovation tenders – and strong growth is expected for 2026. The co-location concept offers the opportunity to protect against cannibalisation effects by absorbing surplusesand stabilising marketing profiles. Although this development is currently most evident in the solar sector, the model is also gaining importance in wind power, making hybrid locations more common.

Consequences for marketing:

Compared to other configurations, co-location has its own special characteristics when it comes to marketing. Forecast uncertainties, prioritisation over generation and variable connection conditions (e.g. ramps and power restrictions) significantly increase complexity. This complexity is not only relevant to operation, but also to project development – ideally already in the design, contract drafting and subsequent dispatch logic.

2) Flexible grid connections: More options, but often less freedom

In recent years, the debate surrounding more flexible grid connection conditions has become significantly more important. From a technical perspective, this approach is understandable: grid capacities should be better utilised and bottlenecks managed in a more targeted manner. In practice, however, this flexibility often goes hand in hand with specific requirements, such as power limitations, ramp requirements or operational restrictions in certain situations.

This shifts the meaning of the term ‘flexible’: instead of additional freedoms, additionalrules are often created that divide operations into more states and entail more exceptions. This increases the demands on planning and operational management.

Against this backdrop, greater standardisation of grid connection conditions is expected in 2026. More uniform rules create one thing above all else: better comparability and greater predictability, and thus a more reliable basis for project development, financing and operation. 

3) Additional sources of revenue: System services and grid-related rules are becoming more important

Market-based revenues have remained high in recent years, and there are many indications that attractive revenues can also be expected in 2026. In addition to those already known, however, additional sources of revenue may also gain in importance.

One focus is on instantaneous reserve and other system services. These politically driven products are particularly exciting as they could involve long-term tenders with terms of up to ten years. 

Dynamic grid fees have a direct impact on operations: they change the costs of charging and discharging and make location a more important economic factor. This means that additional cost signals must be taken into account alongside market prices. More clarity on the specific design is expected in 2026.

The key point here is that additional sources of revenue are rarely easy to add on top. They come with their own technical requirements and verification rules, thereby changing the requirements for operation and marketing.

Examples of this are:  

• Inertia: requires reliable, constant technical availability and can only be optimised to a limited extent in the short term.  

• Dynamic grid fees: have a short-term effect and depend on location; they require rapid adjustments to operating modes and reliable information about the respective grid area.  

• Reactive power: requires specific technical capabilities; in economic terms, it is often still of secondary importance at present. 

Those who integrate these requirements into their design and operating concept at an early stage reduce subsequent adjustment costs and increase the likelihood that additional sources of revenue will actually become usable. 

Conclusion: 2026 will be decided by clean integration and good operability

2026 is unlikely to be marked by a single event, but rather by the question of how well storage projects deal with their real-world conditions. For project development and operation, this means one thing above all else: economic efficiency does not begin with trading, but rather with design and contract drafting. Those who consistently combine connection and contract specifications with the subsequent marketing logic at an early stage will lay the foundation for stable and reliably operable storage.