DRI Leader Renske Ytsma affirms commitment at the CEE Energy Storage Summit in Warsaw
DRI was a sponsor and a speaker at Energy Storage Summit Central Eastern Europe, which took place in Warsaw at the end of September 2024. Colleagues from Amsterdam and Poland joined over 250 experts to discuss battery storage opportunities in CEE, bankability, innovation needs to optimise storage, and grid stability, and policy/support frameworks.
Renske Ytsma, Head of Origination and Project Development at DRI, was a speaker on the “Regulation and Deployment” panel along with other energy experts such as David Anderson, Consultant, Elevion Group, Aleksandra Radwanska, Country Manager, Next Kraftwerke, Dr. Pawel Ryglewicz, Vice President, Polish Wind Energy Association and Jan Sakławski, Head Legal Advisor, Grenergy Renovables.
During the discussions, Renske outlined DRI’s plans to build battery storage projects across Europe and reiterated the company’s commitment to Poland, where it is already developing a 133MW 4h (532MWh) battery storage project in Trzebinia, which will be the largest battery storage project in the country.
Renske also stressed that battery storage complements investment in renewables as the grid becomes congested and cannibalised by the development of RES: “At DRI, as investors, we see the potential of BESS and the company is here to invest and move at pace to complete these projects as fast as possible”. Referring to a more predictable regulatory framework, Renske said: “We are a strong investor with a flexible capital structure, but we still need certainty when trying to bring projects to market.”
In July 2024, DRI acquired 100% of the Trzebinia project from Columbus Energy. The acquisition comes with a commitment to provide energy capacity to the Polish market for 17 years from 2027, having been successful in the 2022 Capacity Market auction organised by PSE, the Polish Transmission System Operator. Commercial operation is expected to start in January 2027.
Visit the project page to learn more about DRI’s plans in Poland.