Europe’s battery and energy storage sector is set to turn its attention skyward this summer, with a lunar energy supply challenge forming one of the centrepieces of ees Europe 2026 in Munich.
Organisers of the exhibition, which runs from June 23–25 at Messe München as part of The smarter E Europe 2026, said the “ees Island Challenge” will ask university teams to develop a self-sufficient power system for a simulated moon habitat linked to future lunar missions.
The initiative is tied to NASA’s Artemis programme and the wider push by the European Space Agency and other agencies to establish a permanent human presence on the moon by the end of the decade.
The lunar habitat: a patch of tarmac in Cologne
At the centre of the challenge is the FLEXhab module at the LUNA analogue training facility in Cologne, Germany. Developed as a joint project between ESA and the German Aerospace Center, the facility is designed to simulate lunar missions, with astronauts living and working in a container-style habitat adjacent to a recreated moon environment.
Under the competition brief, teams from the Helmholtz-Institut Berlin/University of Potsdam and RWTH Aachen University must design an autonomous energy system capable of powering the FLEXhab during future moon missions.
“The Moon is just over 380,000 km from Earth. There is an intensive effort now to sustainably explore the surface of our nearest planetary neighbor,” said Aidan Cowley, science officer at ESA.
“While a challenging environment, there are many energy resources that can be deployed or exploited there. I’m very excited to see what solutions the teams come up with.”
The organisers said the challenge is intended not only as a futuristic demonstration of battery and renewable energy technologies, but also as a test bed for terrestrial off-grid systems.
Lessons learned from lunar habitats could ultimately support stand-alone energy systems for islands, mountain communities and other remote regions, where energy storage and decentralised renewable generation are becoming increasingly important.
“The international storage industry demonstrates strong innovative power and high relevance at Europe’s largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems, ees Europe,” said Sabine Kloos, project manager of ees Europe.
“With the ees Island Challenge, we will demonstrate that it is possible to supply people anywhere, around the clock, with renewable electricity using storage devices and intelligent decentralized energy systems.”
Alongside the lunar challenge, ees Europe will feature a large start-up and innovation programme focused on batteries, storage systems, recycling and AI-enabled battery research and production.
Organisers said more than 2,800 exhibitors and over 100,000 visitors are expected across the three-day event, which will also host the presentation of the The smarter E AWARD 2026 in the Energy Storage category.
Photo: FLEXhab module at the LUNA analogue training facility in Cologne, Germany
Credit: © Solar Promotion GmbH
