RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, is preparing to grant its first ever licenses for battery energy storage systems following a related board decision last week.

The authority opted to base its decision on a rule from 2000 concerning electricity generation units as specific legal framework for installations of such energy storage systems does not exist.

RAE was prompted to move ahead with this licensing plan following interest by investors for installations of large-scale battery energy storage systems. Also, the new target model markets have shown a need for a flexible national grid.

“Markets are sending messages that illustrate a need for flexible units,” RAE president Thanassis Dagoumas pointed out.

The development of a new legal framework designed specifically for battery energy storage systems would have taken many months, the RAE chief noted, explaining the authority’s decision to move forward by utilizing the rule from two decades ago on electricity generation units.

“We analyzed avenues taken by regulatory authorities in other countries for the creation of their frameworks and determined that they have not addressed the subject in any uniform way,” Dagoumas said. “Some see these storage units from the perspective of production while others relate them to production and consumption.”