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BESSt of BESS

BESSt of BESS

Maximilian Hüls

I’m talking to leading experts and entrepreneurs from the battery energy storage sector about their career paths, how they got involved in the BESS bubble, and their current business ventures. The focus is on entrepreneurial challenges, innovations and personal insights – an informative discussion for anyone who wants to help shape the future of energy storage and flexibility!

22 - Why most BESS projects underperform | Stephan Rohr
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  • 22 - Why most BESS projects underperform | Stephan Rohr

    People:

    Stephan's LinkedIn

    Max' LinkedIn


    Keywords:TWAICE, Battery Analytics, BESS Performance, Warranty Tracking, Battery Safety, Energy Transition


    Summary:

    Dr. Stephan Rohr is co-founder and co-CEO of TWAICE, the Munich based battery analytics company he spun out of the Technical University of Munich in 2018 together with Dr. Michael Baumann. His path into batteries started with mechanical engineering at TUM, a short stint in management consulting on two early battery projects in 2012 and 2013, and then a PhD at the Institute of Automotive Technology from 2014 to 2018, where he built a 200 kWh grid storage system module by module and designed its cooling system himself. Back then a kilowatt hour cost 1,200 to 1,500 euros and the battery hall at Intersolar was empty. Today TWAICE monitors around 130 utility scale BESS projects and more than 20 GWh across Europe, the US, Chile and Australia, including a recently connected 2.7 GWh site in the US.


    In this episode of "BESSt of BESS" we talk about why almost everything the industry believes about battery degradation is pointing at the wrong problem. Stephan walks us through the EPRI incident data his team worked with, where only 10 percent of storage incidents originate in the cell while 45 percent come from controls and another 45 percent from balance of plant, and explains why systems that look perfectly available often deliver just 92 percent of their usable energy, which is hundreds of thousands of euros per year on a merchant asset and an asymmetric penalty risk under a tolling agreement. We cover what independent analytics actually does during commissioning and site acceptance, how continuous warranty tracking holds integrators accountable when every LTSA looks different, why insurers are starting to treat an independent analytics layer as a risk mitigation measure, what the Powin bankruptcy did to owners with stranded assets in the US, and what sodium ion cells and their flat open circuit voltage curve will change for state of charge estimation. At the end Stephan places his bet on how much utility scale storage Germany will actually have online on 31 December 2030, and his number sits well above what the registered project pipeline suggests today.

    Wed, 09 Sep 2026 - 1h 08min
  • 21 - He optimises 3 GW of Batteries across Europe | Steffen Schülzchen

    People:Steffen's LinkedIn

    ⁠Max' LinkedIn⁠


    Keywords: BESS, Entrix, Optimization, MACSE, Tolling, Grid Fees, Energy Transition


    Summary:Steffen Schülzchen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Entrix, an energy trader and market leader for trading flexible energy systems in Europe, and the first guest to ever come back on this show. Beyond AI-powered trading, Entrix provides innovative solutions for long-term revenue security and grid-supportive battery operation, supporting clients throughout every project phase with a full-service package: from technical design and integration, to continuous optimization, all the way to 24/7 operational support. With more than 3 GW and 8.5 GWh as well as 70 battery storage assets under contract, the company is active in Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and Portugal, with offices in Munich, Warsaw, Milan and Madrid. Entrix has been pioneering battery optimization in Germany by managing one of the country's first large-scale storage projects, and is now the trusted partner of leading infrastructure players such as Encavis, MEAG (Munich Re), as well as a wide range of local utilities.

    In this episode of "BESSt of BESS" we talk about what a year has done to the European storage markets, starting with why Italy's first MACSE auction is de-facto full tolling with Terna rather than a capacity market, and whether developers bid themselves into the ground at €13,000 per MWh and four times oversubscription. Steffen explains why the capacity markets in Poland, Germany and Spain are better understood as a government-backed floor than as a business case, how tolling, floors and day-ahead swaps are increasingly being blended into a single project, and why Deutsche Bahn of all parties ends up on the other side of such a structure. We also cover Entrix's first live assets in Poland and a 1.3 GWh portfolio there, Germany's record buildout and the AgNes grid fee reform with its FID cut-off, why he considers €5 per kilowatt per year survivable but dynamic grid fees the far bigger opportunity, why he is still not worried about cannibalization in a market that cleared at minus 499.99 €/MWh this year, and which exact number he puts on the gigawatts of utility-scale storage live in Germany on 31 December 2030.

    Fri, 21 Aug 2026 - 1h 09min
  • 20 - From Founding Fluence to Gigawatt Projects in Saudi Arabia | Marek Kubik

    People:

    Marek's LinkedIn
    Max' LinkedIn

    Keywords: BESS, Fluence, Sodium-Ion, Saudi Arabia, Energy Transition

    Summary:

    Marek Kubik was part of the founding team of Fluence, one of the biggest BESS companies in the world, and has been in grid-scale storage since 2009, for practically as long as the industry itself has existed. His journey started at AES, where he delivered one of the world's first commercial battery projects at a coal power station in Northern Ireland, before scaling Fluence from a small Amsterdam office through hypergrowth to its Nasdaq IPO. Today he is building renewable mega-projects in Saudi Arabia.

    In this episode of "BESSt of BESS" we talk about why the first grid-scale batteries had nothing to do with renewables, and how ancillary services, pioneering showroom projects and regulatory groundwork turned BESS into a commercial business. Marek also weighs in on how quickly sodium-ion will really become cost-competitive, why Europe may already have lost the battery manufacturing race to China and the US, and how Saudi Arabia went from zero to 18 GWh of grid-connected BESS in a single year.

    Tue, 07 Jul 2026 - 1h 25min
  • 19 - Warum dein BESS-Modell die Realität nicht abbildet | Laura Hoffmann-Ostenhof

    Personen:

    Laura's LinkedIn

    Max' LinkedIn


    Keywords:BESS, GridCog, Colocation, Flexible Netzanschlüsse (FCA), Energiewende


    Summary:Laura Hoffmann-Ostenhof leitet als Central Europe Lead das Industrieteam von GridCog und ist damit die Schnittstelle zwischen Energiebranche und Produkt. GridCog ist eine Simulationssoftware für Energieprojekte, die aus dem Behind-the-Meter-Markt in Australien kommt und heute von London aus auch die komplexen Front-of-Meter- und Colocation-Projekte im deutschen Markt abbildet.

    In der Folge von „BESSt of BESS" sprechen wir darüber, warum viele der Curves, die heute in Business Cases stecken, die physische Realität eines Projekts gar nicht abbilden – und wie man Colocation, flexible Netzanschlüsse (FCA), Degradation und Availability richtig modelliert. Außerdem ordnet Laura ein, welchen Einfluss der Wechsel vom EEG hin zum doppelseitigen CfD auf den Battery Case hat, wie weit verschiedene Märkte (UK, Australien, Spanien, Deutschland) tatsächlich sind – und wie viele Gigawatt Großspeicher 2030 wirklich am deutschen Netz hängen.

    Wed, 10 Jun 2026 - 1h 08min
  • 18 - Er rettet die Deutsche Industrie vor hohen Strompreisen | Torge Lahrsen

    Personen:

    ⁠⁠⁠⁠Torge' LinkedIn⁠⁠

    ⁠⁠⁠⁠Max' LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠


    Keywords:

    BESS, encentive, Deutscher Mittelstand, Deutsche Industrie, Investitionsstandort Deutschland,

    Summary:

    Torge Lahrsen ist Founder & CPO von encentive. Mit encentive hat er eines der führenden behind-the-meter Stromkosten Optimierungsunternehmen aufgebaut, welches die Lastprofile von Industrieunternehmen flexibilisiert und somit Stromkosten einspart. Batterien spielen hierbei seit einiger Zeit eine zentrale Rolle, da Sie perfekt für das Zwischenspeichern von Strom in Zeiten niedriger Strompreise geeignet sind, sodass das Industrieunternehmen in Zeiten hoher Strompreise seinen Strom nicht aus Netz sondern aus dem Speicher beziehen kann.

    In der Folge von „BESSt of BESS“ sprechen wir darüber, wie die Idee von encentive entstanden ist - Spoiler, es hat mit Windrädern zu tun und wir gehen tief bis ins Detail der Industriestrompreisoptimierung und sprechen hier unter anderem darüber, wie man ein Industrieunternehmen auf Netzentgeltersparnis optimiert.

    Tue, 26 May 2026 - 1h 16min
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