22 January 2026:

FBE joined the Energy Storage Europe Association and other industry stakeholders in signing a joint letter that calls on the EU to establish a sequenced EU framework to enable the deployment of LDES. The letter explains the role of LDES in strengthening energy security, reducing system costs, supporting industrial decarbonisation, fostering the transition to cleaner energy sources and enhancing grid resilience.

At the same time, the statement identifies the challenges that hinder LDES deployment in Europe, namely the structural gaps Europe faces across energy system planning, market design, investment frameworks, taxation, and delivery conditions. These shortcomings, the signatories warn, risk delaying investment and preventing LDES technologies from scaling at the pace required to support a renewables-based power system.

To address these bottlenecks, the joint statement calls on EU institutions, national governments, regulators, and system operators to:

  • integrate long-duration energy storage into energy system planning and adequacy assessments;
  • ensure fair and cost-reflective treatment in markets, grid charges, and taxation;
  • align capacity mechanisms with long-duration system needs;
  • enable investment and long-term contracting frameworks that support deployment at scale.

By signing this joint statement, FBE aimed to underline the fundamental role that LDES technologies, including flow batteries, play in Europe’s energy system and to ensure they are fully recognised in EU policymaking. This is because flow batteries and other LDES technologies can enable the system transformations the EU needs – a clean energy transition, industrial competitiveness, and energy security. However, the deployment of these technologies depend on the EU aligning system planning, markets, grid tariffs, regulations and investment frameworks with the physical realities of a power system increasingly characterised by high shares of renewable, intermittent, and volatile generation.

Check out the full joint statement here.

Joint statement signed by: Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDES Council), WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Energy Storage Europe Association, EnergyTag, Global Renewables Alliance (GRA), Future Cleantech Architects, Cleantech for Europe and Eurelectric

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