BW ESS and ACL Energy have expanded their joint project development pipeline for utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Italy to 2900MW.
Building on their initial partnership established in February 2024, which included three projects totalling 400MW, the two companies now commit to co-developing an additional 11 sites with a total capacity of 2.5GW.
This expansion brings the total development pipeline managed by the BW ESS and ACL Energy partnership to 14 schemes, representing 2.9GW of capacity across Italy’s North and South electricity zones.
All projects have secured land and grid access and are advancing towards obtaining permits.
Seven of these schemes totalling over 1GW are already undergoing review by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
Northern projects will target participation in the capacity market scheme, while Southern projects aim to bid in the Mechanism for Procuring Electricity Storage Capacity.
The partnership’s growth aligns with Italy’s accelerating renewable energy expansion, and thus need for energy storage.
According to Terna, the Italian transmission system operator, the country added 2.9GW of wind and solar capacity in 2022, 5.7GW in 2023, and another 5.4GW in the first nine months of 2024.
BW ESS executive director Roberto Jiménez said: “Deepening our partnership with ACL Energy allows us to significantly scale our development activities in Italy.
“We believe our shared pipeline represents one of the largest among non-utility players in the Italian BESS market.
“We are excited to contribute to the country’s energy transition by bringing substantial battery storage capacity online.”
ACL Energy managing partner Nicola Locascio added: “We are proud to strengthen our partnership with a global leader like BW ESS, whose expertise in energy storage is invaluable.
“This collaboration is a cornerstone of our medium- and long-term strategy, reinforcing ACL Energy’s ambition to lead in Italy’s rapidly growing energy storage sector.”
ACL Energy was advised by Eversheds Sutherland, while BW ESS received counsel from Bird & Bird, with technical advisory support from Kiwa Moroni.