Flow Batteries Europe (FBE) has welcomed the European Commission’s AccelerateEU communication, but warned that insufficient recognition of long-duration energy storage (LDES) risks undermining Europe’s energy security and industrial strategy.
In a statement issued on 22 April, the Brussels-based association said the Commission was right to highlight the importance of storage, flexibility and grid infrastructure, and to set a target to expand EU storage capacity from 55GW today to 200GW by 2030.
However, FBE argued that the current framework does not go far enough: “Commissioner Jørgensen once said at his confirmation hearing in front the European Parliament that Europe needs ‘all the tools in the toolbox’ to deploy renewable energy, yet overlooking long duration energy storage (LDES) would be missing a crucial tool here.”
AccelerateEU lacks breath of knowledge
The association pointed out that AccelerateEU identifies only two “key technologies” for storage—short-duration batteries and pumped hydro—despite growing geopolitical pressure to strengthen long-term energy resilience.
“While the geopolitical context has stressed once again the need to provide long-term resilience in our energy system, AccelerateEU mentions only two energy storage solutions as ‘key technologies’: (short duration) batteries and pumped hydro storage,” FBE said.
FBE argued that supporting LDES technologies is essential not only for system resilience but also for energy independence. It warned that Europe risks repeating past mistakes seen in solar PV and lithium-ion batteries, where manufacturing capacity shifted outside the region.
“Supporting LDES is not only important for our energy security, it is essential to our energy independence,” the group said. “Several LDES still retain manufacturing capacity in Europe and a diversified supply chain. They must be supported if policy makers do not want them to meet the same fate as solar PV and lithium-ion batteries before them, whose production is now overly reliant on a single third country.”
Flow batteries were highlighted as a case in point. According to FBE, the technology can still be manufactured within Europe, with supply chains spanning multiple countries, including within the region. The association also pointed to technical advantages, including reduced fire risk, minimal degradation over time, and suitability for utility-scale and backup applications such as data centres.
“Flow batteries, for instance, can still be manufactured on our continent and their materials sourced in several countries, including in Europe. They also provide reduced fire risks, no degradation over time, and can be used for utility-scale long-duration storage or even a perfect fit for backup in data centres. So why are they still overlooked in official communications?” the group said.
FBE is calling on EU institutions to explicitly include LDES in follow-up policy initiatives to AccelerateEU and to recognise technologies such as flow batteries as strategic net-zero assets across investment, procurement, grid and flexibility frameworks.
Aurélien Ballagny, head of policy at FBE, said: “The EU is right to acknowledge the role of storage for energy security. But unless Europe explicitly supports LDES, it could be yet another missed strategic opportunity.”
Founded in 2021, FBE represents stakeholders across the flow battery sector and aims to shape EU policy and R&D priorities to accelerate deployment of energy storage and flexibility technologies.
