Battery storage went from an unproven bet to one of Europe's fastest-growing energy assets in a but the exceptional returns early investors saw have already faded as more batteries crowd the market. The real question today isn't whether a battery can make money, it's whether an optimiser can keep making money from it, market after market, year after year.

In this conversation, Brecht Dierckx, Director of Physical Asset Trading & Optimisation at Centrica, joins Ed to unpack what actually separates a good battery optimiser from an average one, and why pricing, contracts and risk are becoming as important as trading itself.

They cover:

- Why the exceptional early returns 2017–2018 battery investors saw are gone for good, and what actually lets some optimisers keep repeating strong performance while others can't

- How battery revenue has shifted over time — from grid-support services, to adjusting trades as markets move, to buying and selling across multiple markets at once — and why each edge shrinks as more batteries chase it

- Why pricing a battery deal is nothing like pricing a financial instrument, and how modelling different future scenarios (rather than simple averages) reveals the real value of holding a diversified portfolio

- What project developers are actually asking optimisers for now — performance guarantees, profit shares, protection from regulatory changes — and why some of those guarantees aren't realistically workable

- Which European markets look most promising for battery growth next, and how emerging grid restrictions could shape how much value new assets are able to capture

Want to know how flexible connection agreements or grid restrictions are changing your battery's revenue forecast? Ask Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst

Chapters:

0:00 – Battery Storage Returns Are Saturating

1:04 – Battery Optimisation Operational Excellence

2:22 – Repeatable Battery Storage Returns

5:43 – Ancillary Services Revenue Saturation

8:14 – Battery Optimiser Performance Benchmarks

10:08 – Small Vs Large Battery Trading Teams

14:25 – AI In Energy Trading

16:29 – Autonomous AI Battery Trading Risks

18:40 – Extreme Weather Impact On Energy Trading

21:49 – Best European Battery Storage Markets

24:13 – Battery Storage Toll Pricing

28:59 – Battery Portfolio Diversification Strategy

31:36 – Flexible Connection Agreements Explained

35:51 – Battery Storage Investment Guarantees

38:30 – Battery Storage And Grid Transmission

What Happens When Every Battery Market Gets Crowded? - Centrica

Transmission

What Happens When Every Battery Market Gets Crowded? - Centrica