ENGIE taps Kraken for Italian battery optimisation

ENGIE is partnering with Kraken to manage its Italian storage sites, starting with batteries in Sicily and Terni to optimise renewables, reduce grid congestion and protect against potential power outages.

Under the partnership, which will start with assets in Sicily and Terni of 37.5MW, Kraken’s AI-powered flexibility technology will support ENGIE’s trading team.

The technology will be used to automate real-time control and dispatch of the storage assets and is marking Kraken’s entry into the Italian large-scale generation market.

The partnership will help to maximise the use of renewables, reduce congestion on the grid, and help protect against costly outages.

Kraken will also enable ENGIE’s access to ancillary service markets – these include frequency response, reserve, and capacity services, as well as live monitoring, alerting, and AI-driven insights to maximise performance and system value.

Have you read:
Kraken’s virtual power plant hits 2GW milestone
LG Electronics and Octopus Energy partner on Kraken heat pumps integration

Battery storage will be a key component of Italy’s energy transition.

The country’s grid transmission operator, Terna, estimates 71.5GWh of new grid-scale storage will be needed by 2030 to support the 131GW of solar and wind generation targeted in Italy’s National Energy and Climate Plan.

A significant share of this is expected to be built in southern Italy, which will create a growing need for flexibility to balance the system and ease pressure on the transmission network.

Battery storage is essential for maintaining a stable grid and enabling greater use of wind and solar power while supporting a faster, cheaper, and more reliable energy transition.

Commenting in a release was Charlotte Johnson, general manager for generation flex at Kraken: “Batteries are a crucial building block of a reliable, renewable energy system and our platform is already proven across 4GW of grid-scale storage and renewable sites across Europe.

“By teaming up with ENGIE, a global energy leader with deep expertise in renewables, we’re supercharging the grid to harness the full potential of the most affordable energy sources available – wind and solar – to drive down costs and build a smarter, more sustainable energy system.”

Headquartered in London and New York, Kraken is currently contracted to manage over 70 million customer accounts.