Ensuring bankable projects through MACSE: implications and bidding strategy

Italy is committed to being at the forefront of electric market innovation, driving the energy transition through key initiatives like energy storage. With 2025 on the horizon, Italy is poised for a surge in storage asset investments. The game-changer? The new MACSE support mechanism, which offers long-term, indexed contracts for up to 100% of asset capacity.

MACSE—the Electricity Storage Capacity Procurement Mechanism (in Italian, Meccanismo di Approvvigionamento di Capacità di Stoccaggio Elettrico)—is a large-scale storage procurement system that will open competitive auctions for up to 71 GWh of storage (between 12 to 15 GW by 2030). The renewables sector anticipates the first auction as early as 2025, offering developers the chance to secure contracts ranging from 12 to 14 years for lithium-ion batteries and up to 30 years for pumped hydro storage (PHES).