“Several participants bid extremely aggressively, with projects in brownfields and with most certainly a technology advantage, which pushed clearing prices down significantly,” Russo told Energy-Storage.news.
Zelestra took part but ultimately chose not to bid in at a level that would have seen it win, he explained.
“Given the clearing levels, moving forward would have required accepting revenue conditions that were not aligned with Zelestra’s financial discipline or with the quality and maturity of its projects,” Russo said.
“In this context, the decision not to over-discount was strategically correct, especially considering that tolling agreements can ultimately deliver a more favourable balance of predictability, risk allocation and economic return than many of the awarded MACSE contracts.”
Energy-Storage.news has published extensive analysis of the MACSE auction.
Private toll interest in light of MACSE
Only a handful of companies won contracts in the auction, with nearly half awarded to Enel. In December, we spoke to another successful firm, developer and IPP Greenvolt, about the contract win and project.
So, perhaps the more interesting discussion is about the auction results’ wider impact on the market for PPAs and tolls for BESS in Italy, which we asked Russo about.
“MACSE has introduced an important reference point into the market, but its impact on private contracts such as tolls and PPAs is nuanced,” Russo explained.
“On one hand, the existence of a long-term state-backed remuneration framework provides a floor for market expectations and reinforces the legitimacy of storage as a bankable asset class.”
“On the other hand, because MACSE cleared at relatively modest remuneration levels, it has increased interest in bilateral solutions that can offer higher value and more tailored risk-sharing. ”
“Corporates, utilities and traders now understand that if they want access to flexible capacity over the next decade, they cannot rely solely on MACSE; they must seek private agreements that secure dispatchable resources ahead of their competitors.”
“This dynamic enhances the attractiveness of tolling agreements, which combine long-term visibility for developers with market exposure for offtakers, and it accelerates the emergence of an Italian storage market where merchant optimisation, bilateral contracting and flexibility services coexist.”
In a highly related move, Zelestra signed a long-term toll with offtaker BKW, a utility and power firm, for BESS in Northern Italy of up to 2GWh of capacity. Construction is scheduled for 2027 for commercial operations in 2028.
That was announced just as the MACSE auctions were approaching in September. But note that the first MACSE auction was only for projects in Southern Italy, so this toll covers projects that were not in MACSE.
The deal with BKW marked one of the first true virtual tolling structures ever applied to utility-scale battery storage in Italy and can be considered an industry-first, Russo said. That indicates it may be for multiple projects.
“The Zelestra–BKW structure is therefore not only innovative in itself; it anticipates the direction the Italian BESS market is moving following MACSE and positions Zelestra advantageously within this evolving landscape,” Russo concluded.
Energy-Storage.news publisher Solar Media is hosting the Energy Storage Summit EU 2026 in London, UK, on 24-25 February 2026 at the InterContinental London – The O2. See the official website for more details, including agenda and speaker lists.