Herby BESS enters operation in Lubliniec County

European independent power producer R.Power has energised its first standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) in Poland. The 5 MW / 10 MWh Herby project, located in Herby in Lubliniec County, is now operating to support grid stability. It marks the first standalone storage project in R.Power's portfolio to enter operation — an important step towards the company's planned expansion of battery storage capacity across Europe.

Entrix to handle trading and optimisation

R.Power has signed an optimisation agreement with European energy trader Entrix, which will manage trading and optimisation across all relevant electricity markets for the Herby BESS. Qualification for the provision of balancing services is still under way. The partnership is intended to establish a model for integrating advanced optimisation strategies across R.Power's wider European storage portfolio.

Contracted revenues from Poland's capacity market

Construction of the Herby BESS began in Q4 2025. The installation secured a long-term contract through Poland's capacity market auction in December 2024, followed by an additional capacity market contract organised in September 2026. That combination gives the asset a contracted revenue base onto which merchant trading and balancing revenues can be layered.

"Herby is the first standalone BESS in R.Power's portfolio to reach the market. We look forward to working together with Entrix on this interesting asset with capacity market contracts and asymmetrical battery design." — Rafał Hajduk, Chief Commercial Officer at R.Power

A pipeline of 1.6 GW / 5.8 GWh

Herby is the first operational milestone in a wider standalone BESS development programme. R.Power has several utility-scale projects in its pipeline, including Jedwabno, Dzięgielewo, Gdańsk, Scornicesti and Studina. Together these form part of a planned European portfolio totalling 1.6 GW / 5.8 GWh, supporting the expansion of battery storage infrastructure across Poland and other European markets.

"With a combined capacity of 1.6 GW / 5.8 GWh across several large BESS assets in the pipeline today – including Jedwabno, Dzięgielewo, Gdańsk, Scornicesti and Studina – we're taking the next step on the journey." — Rafał Hajduk, R.Power

Why Herby matters beyond its megawatts

At 5 MW / 10 MWh, Herby is small next to the utility-scale assets expected to dominate Europe's storage build-out. The European Commission estimates the EU needs 200 GW of storage by 2030, against roughly 55 GW installed at the beginning of 2026. But first-of-a-kind projects in national markets matter for what they prove: that capacity market contracts can underwrite construction, that third-party optimisers can be contracted early, and that a developer can move from pipeline to operation. For Poland, Herby adds another reference point for the bankability of standalone batteries.

Source: BESTmag

This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.