Swiss energy group Axpo has signed a long-term tolling agreement with independent power producer Zelestra for a 207-megawatt battery energy storage system in northern Italy, marking Zelestra’s second such deal this month and underscoring the rapid commercialization of grid-scale storage in one of Europe’s most dynamic power markets. The arrangement gives Axpo operational control over the asset’s dispatch while Zelestra retains ownership, a structure that has become the preferred route for institutional investors seeking storage exposure without merchant risk.
Italy’s storage build-out has accelerated sharply since the introduction of the MACSE capacity mechanism, which rewards firm capacity availability and has unlocked project finance for assets that would otherwise struggle to stack revenues from energy arbitrage alone. Northern Italy, where this project is sited, faces acute grid congestion and high renewable curtailment, making storage a strategic asset for both system operators and traders able to capture locational price spreads.
For Zelestra, the back-to-back July agreements signal an aggressive deployment cadence backed by its shareholders, including EQT Infrastructure and Mubadala. The IPP has now secured tolling structures for over 400 megawatts of Italian storage in a matter of weeks, positioning it among the largest storage portfolios in the country. The speed of execution suggests a standardized development pipeline and pre-negotiated offtake frameworks that reduce time-to-revenue for each new asset.
Axpo’s appetite for tolling agreements reflects a broader shift among European utilities and trading houses: rather than building and owning storage, they are locking in flexible capacity through long-term contracts that hedge their portfolios against volatility while providing developers with bankable revenue. As Italy targets 70 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030, the tolling model is likely to dominate the next wave of storage investment, with traders competing for access to assets that can monetize intraday price swings and provide essential grid services.
Read the full report at Energy Storage News.