NGEN commissions Poland's first DSO-connected battery system

NGEN has commissioned a 9.4 MW / 18.8 MWh battery energy storage system in Łozienica, in Poland's West Pomerania region. Known as Project Vistula, it is the second utility-scale battery storage installation in Poland and the first connected directly to the distribution network operator's grid. The system uses five Tesla Megapack 2XL units — the first deployment of that technology on the Polish market. Operational readiness was confirmed in cooperation with Enea Operator.

Project Vistula was developed as a pilot to demonstrate how large-scale storage can be integrated into the Polish electricity system and its market structures. While storage technology is expanding rapidly across Europe, integration with national grid infrastructure and market rules remains one of the main barriers in emerging storage markets. Connecting at distribution rather than transmission level raised a specific set of questions around communication, control, interconnection, settlement and distribution agreements — questions the project was built to answer in practice.

The installation is integrated with NGEN's digital operating platform, combining SCADA monitoring with ESGP, the group's AI-driven high-level energy management system. The platform enables real-time monitoring and control of the asset, automated optimisation of dispatch against market signals, and coordination between storage operation and grid requirements. The battery operates as an active grid asset, responding to both market conditions and system needs.

Unlike many storage projects, where development, investment and operation sit with separate entities, NGEN acts as investor, owner and operator. This vertically integrated approach allows a single party to carry responsibility from grid connection through to market participation.