This week on Energy Unplugged, Emma Woodward, Principal in Aurora Energy Research’s GB & Ireland Advisory team and GB Flexible Energy Lead, is joined by Peter Kavanagh, CEO of Harmony Energy.

Britain has built one of Europe’s most mature battery markets, largely without subsidy. But success brings its own complications.

As batteries scale, the debate is shifting from whether the technology works to whether the market around it does. Merchant revenues remain volatile; projects can spend years waiting for grid and planning approvals, and batteries are still not always fully utilised when they could provide a cheaper alternative for balancing the system.

At the same time, support for long-duration storage raises a more uncomfortable question: could policy designed to accelerate storage end up distorting a market that has already proved it can compete?

For Peter, the message is increasingly simple: batteries have demonstrated their value. Now the challenge is removing the barriers that stop them delivering more of it.

Main topics include:

• Why merchant risk may still offer greater upside than contracted certainty

• How grid queues and planning delays are holding back battery deployment

• Why batteries are still being overlooked in the balancing mechanism

• Could subsidised long-duration storage undermine the existing market?

• What Europe can learn from Britain’s battery experience