BW ESS Buys Two 100 MW / 400 MWh French BESS Projects From Recurrent
BW ESS bought two standalone French battery projects from Recurrent Energy on Oct. 29, 2026: 200 MW / 800 MWh in total, its first in France. Price, supplier and build dates are not disclosed.
Energy & Cooling DeskEdited by Ege Erten
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BW ESS battery containers in the release image for the French purchase. The two French projects are still in advanced development.
Image: BW ESS
Source · Press image from the BW ESS newsroom, used for news reporting.
BW ESS said on Oct. 29, 2026 it bought two standalone battery projects in France from Recurrent Energy, each 100 MW / 400 MWh, for 200 MW / 800 MWh in total.
BW ESS's two French sites would total 200 MW / 800 MWh, announced capacity per the company's Oct 29, 2026 release.
Illustration (AI-generated)
The projects sit in the regions of Calvados and Eastern Pyrenees and are in advanced development, according to the BW ESS release. The deal is the company's first in France and its seventh market worldwide. BW ESS, which describes itself as a long-term owner-operator, said it plans to own more energy storage in France.
Each project holds four hours of energy at full power, a figure derived from 400 MWh divided by 100 MW. That is the duration that lets a battery charge on midday surplus and discharge through the evening peak. BW ESS chief executive Erik Strømsø said France has a strong nuclear base but a growing need for flexibility as weather-sensitive demand and a changing generation mix make the system more variable. In his words, batteries can absorb surplus power and make low-carbon generation available when it is most valuable.
What the French Deal Adds to BW ESS
The 800 MWh purchase is larger than the more than 540 MWh of battery storage that BW ESS says it operates today. The company also reports about 12 GWh under construction or in pre-construction and a development pipeline of several gigawatts, so France starts as a small slice of a much larger book.
Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, will stay closely involved in the projects' development through to commercial operation, the release said, while BW ESS brings them into construction and operation. Recurrent chief executive Dylan Marx said the sale shows the developer's ability to create value by delivering high-quality BESS projects, short for battery energy storage systems.
ESS News reported the deal alongside BW ESS's debt package for the Hams Hall project in the UK, announced Oct. 21. As Voltgrid reported on Oct. 22, that 400 MW / 1,424 MWh site in the West Midlands is financed by OCBC, Rabobank and Societe Generale. It is separate news and not part of the French purchase.
France is not an empty market for this technology. Voltgrid News also covered Enertrag's Les Sablons financing, a 39 MW / 117 MWh project in Hauts-de-France, which is far smaller than either new BW ESS site.
What Is Not Confirmed Yet
Neither BW ESS nor ESS News gave a purchase price. The release does not say when construction starts, when the projects are due to operate, which battery supplier will be used, or whether any revenue contract is in place. Both projects are described as in advanced development, not as ready to build, so the 200 MW / 800 MWh is announced capacity and not operating capacity.
What to watch next is the grid connection and revenue arrangements for the two sites, and whether BW ESS adds the further French storage it says it wants.
