Lithuania’s battery boom is becoming a market for grid flexibility
Lithuania’s battery build-out has reached the point where the number of new projects is no longer the main story. A market for what those batteries can actually do for the power system is beginning to take shape.
On October 2, transmission system operator Litgrid said battery storage connected to Lithuania’s transmission and distribution networks had reached 1,195 MW of power and 2,261 MWh of capacity. By the end of 2026, up to 20 additional projects could bring the total above 2 GW and 4 GWh, provided the projects now in development are completed as planned.
The pace of expansion has been unusually fast. At the end of 2025, Lithuania had around 453.9 MW and 461.5 MWh of storage connected to the transmission and distribution networks. In less than a year, installed battery power has therefore increased roughly 2.6 times, while energy capacity has grown almost fivefold.
But capacity is only one side of the market.
On the same day, Litgrid launched an auction for 154 MW of a new fast active power response service for January–June 2027. The service will automatically activate capacity when system frequency crosses specified thresholds. Litgrid says it should strengthen system resilience and also help increase cross-border transmission capacity with Poland.
Offers can be submitted until October 16, with a maximum price of €10 per MW per hour. Contracts will be awarded monthly on a pay-as-bid basis.
The operator explicitly links the new product to the rapid growth of battery storage. This is important because batteries need more than connection rights and wholesale electricity-price spreads to form a sustainable business model. Grid and ancillary services can add additional revenue streams.
Another project entered construction on October 2 in Alytus district. The Dzūkas BESSotis facility will have 46 MW of power and 92 MWh of capacity, with investment of around €25 million and commissioning planned for the second quarter of 2027. It will connect to Litgrid’s 110 kV network.
| Lithuania battery storage | |
|---|---|
| Connected battery power | 1,195 MW |
| Connected energy capacity | 2,261 MWh |
| Possible by end-2026 | >2 GW / >4 GWh |
| New Litgrid fast-response procurement | 154 MW |
| Dzūkas BESSotis project | 46 MW / 92 MWh |
The three developments point in the same direction. Lithuania is moving from a phase dominated by financing and construction of battery projects towards one in which storage is becoming an operating part of the electricity market.
That transition is not complete. The new Litgrid product covers only one specific system service, and not every connected battery will necessarily qualify or find all revenue streams equally attractive. Lithuania already has batteries participating in the balancing market, so the October auction should not be read as the birth of battery services from zero.
The signal is narrower but more significant: the physical storage fleet has become large enough for the grid operator to design additional market products around it.
With another 4.3 GW and 10 GWh of battery projects covered by connection-intention agreements, according to Litgrid, the next question for Lithuania is increasingly not how many batteries can be built, but how efficiently they can be integrated and monetised inside the power system