Trade association Energy Storage Europe (ESE, formerly known as EASE) welcomed the framework’s measures to support manufacturing and accelerate permitting, while sounding a note of caution that the ‘Made in Europe’ content requirements should be introduced gradually.
The association said the provisions will “significantly impact the European battery value chain and the deployment of energy storage.”
At the same time, Energy-Storage.news, has heard from the CEO of due diligence platform provider Infyos that the legislation, as it stands, will support downstream assembly of energy storage technologies while potentially keeping upstream battery manufacturing and materials largely dependent on China.
“Europe is at least a decade behind China on manufacturing for renewables, particularly for battery energy storage, where China dominates with over 80% of global battery manufacturing. Transitioning to local manufacturing is much more complex than just putting a policy in place,” Sarah Montgomery, Infyos CEO and co-founder, told Energy-Storage.news.
“We have to be realistic on how much investment and systemic change it will take to build local manufacturing – successful local European manufacturing requires the know-how on manufacturing scale up, access to factory equipment and construction expertise, the security of the supply chain, educated investment environments that understand the risks associated with the large Capex, lower energy and labour prices to stay cost competitive, and so much more,” Montgomery said, adding that lessons must be learned from Europe’s failed battery manufacturing startups such as Northvolt.
Regulation ‘must not slow down deployment’ of clean energy tech
The announcement had been leaked ahead of time, and at the Energy Storage Summit 2026, Jacopo Tosoni, head of policy at trade association Energy Storage Europe (ESE), had highlighted that while it was still to be seen what exact approach the European Union (EU) would ultimately take, the regulation could have a significant impact on the industry.
His ESE colleagues, Aurélien Ballagny, senior policy officer, and Alberto Gasparato, offered official statements from the association after the European Commission’s announcement.
Ballagny echoed Sarah Montgomery’s comments, arguing that while the legislation makes explicit the ambition to strengthen Europe’s industrial capabilities, “the introduction of Union origin requirements across the battery supply chain must be gradual,” to provide investors with clear signals and give the industry “sufficient time to build the necessary industrial capacity.”
“Identified dependencies should be addressed through a realistic pathway for diversification, ensuring that the deployment of energy storage – and therefore renewables – is not slowed down or made more expensive.”
Alberto Gasparato, meanwhile, said ESE welcomes the IAA’s measures to support the manufacturing of net-zero tech, including energy storage, while an accelerated permitting and development framework “significantly benefits the production and deployment of energy storage technologies.”
The ESE junior policy officer also commended the EC’s recognition of industrial decarbonisation as an area of strategic importance that could benefit energy storage technologies, including thermal energy storage (TES).
China could still maintain ‘leadership’
Sarah Montgomery said the majority of renewable energy deployments in Europe are using technologies manufactured in China, according to Infyos’ data, but as regulations start to encourage more local manufacturing in key markets such as the US, Chinese companies “are drawing on the same innovative capabilities that helped them become global superpowers to find new ways to adapt and maintain leadership in international markets.”
“The Industrial Accelerator Act’s focus on driving more investment in battery system manufacturing in Europe leaves open the possibility for the upstream supply chain to remain heavily Chinese-dominant,” Montgomery told Energy-Storage.news.
“The end system manufacturing makes sense as the starting point, but it will not remove the industry dependency on China.”
With renewable energy resources becoming critical infrastructure for ensuring energy security, the CEO said, capabilities, strategic relationships and risk management systems need to be built up across the whole supply chain, but “it will take a broad industrial strategy and enormous capital support to succeed in this ambition.”
The IAA was met with a mixed reaction from Europe’s solar PV industry groups, as reported by our colleagues at PV Tech. SolarPower Europe said the regulation “marks a new era for solar manufacturing” on the continent, with deputy CEO Dries Acke calling it a “watershed moment for industrial policy in Europe.”
However, the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC), which represents a number of manufacturers, said it was “deeply disappointed” with the proposal, arguing that in only identifying two major components of PV systems, cells and inverters, in its criterion, the IAA did not go far enough in bringing “the entire PV supply chain back to Europe.”
More information on the Industrial Accelerator Act can be found here on the EC website.