EP.274 – From Grid Bottlenecks to Battery Value: Europe’s Storage Markets Evolve

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Jan 27, 2026

Konstantin Niklas, Head of Sales at Entrix, brings investor and asset-management chops. Steffen Schülzchen, Founder and CEO of Entrix, builds optimisation and trading platforms for batteries. They discuss how grid congestion and flexible connection rules are reshaping battery investments. They cover ramping limits, redispatch impacts, co‑location tradeoffs, and how smarter optimisation and market design could unlock capacity.

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INSIGHT

Grid Congestion Now Binds Battery Growth

Grid congestion has become a binding constraint for battery deployment across Europe, particularly in Germany.
In 2024 congestion blocked 72 TWh and cost nearly €9bn, highlighting the scale of the problem.

ADVICE

Integrate Trading With Technical And Contract Work

Optimizers must combine trading decisions with technical constraints to maximise battery value.
Entrix also supports warranty design and grid connection planning to protect project business cases.

ADVICE

Engage Optimisers Early In Project Design

Engage optimisers early in development to assess connection restrictions and design trade-offs.
Use their modelling to quantify revenue impacts of specific constraints like ramp rates or hours-limited feed-in.

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This week on Energy Unplugged, we’re joined by Steffen Schülzchen, Founder and CEO of Entrix, and Constantin Nicklas, Head of Sales at Entrix, for a discussion on how grid congestion is reshaping battery storage investment across Europe. They join Claudia Gunter, Senior Research Lead at Aurora, to focus on why network constraints have become a defining challenge for batteries, and how flexible connection models, smarter optimisation, and evolving market rules could help unlock capacity faster. The discussion explores how congestion, redispatch, and ramping limits affect battery revenues in practice, and what this means for system efficiency, investors, and decarbonisation outcomes.

Steffen founded Entrix in 2021 after advising European utilities on the energy transition at McKinsey & Company, and now leads the development of an intelligent trading and optimisation platform for battery assets. Constantin brings a commercial and investor perspective from over a decade in financial asset management at Deutsche Bank, where he worked closely with energy-focused investment structures. Together, they offer a grounded view on how regulatory design, grid access, and market signals are shaping the next phase of battery deployment in Europe.

You will learn:

Why grid congestion has become a binding constraint for battery deployment in Europe, especially in Germany.
How connection rules, redispatch, and ramping limits shape real-world battery revenues and risk.
What flexible grid access and smarter optimisation could unlock for storage investors and system operators.
How market design and regulation will need to evolve to scale batteries efficiently and cost-effectively.

Registration for the leading annual gathering of the European energy industry – the Aurora Spring Forum, taking place on 29th April 2026, in London is open - a one-day deep dive into the biggest strategic questions shaping Europe’s energy transition, plus top-tier networking and a live recording of Energy Unplugged.

Book now at https://auroraer.com/events/aurora-spring-forum-2026 and use code PODCAST20 for 20% off.