NHOA Energy Wins 600 MWh of MACSE Battery Projects in Italy

NHOA Energy has been awarded two battery energy storage projects totaling 90 MW / 600 MWh in Campania and Sardinia — the company’s first systems contracted under MACSE, Italy’s new capacity mechanism for long-duration storage. The award, announced March 1, 2026 from Milan, comes from an unnamed “leading independent platform in the renewables and energy transition sector,” and follows Terna’s first MACSE auction in late 2025, which cleared tariffs dramatically below the mechanism’s €37,000 per MWh per year reserve premium.

What Is Being Built

The two BESS installations carry a combined MACSE-contracted capacity of about 600 MWh and 90 MW of power — roughly 6.7 hours of duration, matching the long-duration profile the mechanism targets. The projects are financed by a pool of Italian and international financial institutions. Site installation is expected to start by September 2026, with commissioning targeted well within the January 2028 start-up date required under the MACSE framework. NHOA Energy, headquartered in Milan with regional bases in Taipei, Perth and Houston, previously deployed Italian grid storage under the Terna Storage Lab, UPI, Fast Reserve and Capacity Market schemes.

How MACSE Works

MACSE (Meccanismo di Approvvigionamento di Capacità di Stoccaggio Elettrico) is transmission operator Terna’s competitive auction for electricity storage capacity. The first auction allocated roughly 10 GWh of long-duration storage, with winning tariffs far below the €37,000/MWh-per-year reserve cap. Contracted assets earn regulated availability payments rather than merchant revenues — a structural contrast with markets like ERCOT, where storage returns depend on energy and ancillary prices.

Critical Perspective

Tariffs far below the reserve cap mean auction winners are betting on continued battery cost declines between award and the 2028 delivery deadline — NHOA’s own announcement nods at the squeeze. “They confirm our ability to deliver complex, utility-scale storage systems that support grid flexibility and the energy transition, despite the very challenging context, while affirming our capabilities to maintain a high level of competitiveness in tight-margin environments,” said Fabrizio Ciaccia, NHOA Energy’s Vice President EMEA. The client’s identity was not disclosed, the per-site split between Campania and Sardinia was not broken out, and a September 2026 installation start against a January 2028 deadline leaves roughly 16 months for two utility-scale builds — modest slack if grid connections or component deliveries slip.

Why It Matters

MACSE shifts Italian long-duration storage from merchant risk to contracted capacity payments, and the roughly 10 GWh cleared in the first auction represents a multi-year order book for suppliers that can hit the price points. The NHOA award is an early datapoint on who converts MACSE volumes into signed projects — and on whether Europe’s regulated-procurement storage markets can sustain margins that merchant markets no longer guarantee.

Sources

• NHOA Energy press release (Business Wire, March 1, 2026)
• Energy Storage News: NHOA Energy secures first MACSE battery awards in Italy

Related Coverage

• Italy’s Energy Storage Future Post-MACSE: Summit 2026 Insights: where Italy’s storage market heads after the MACSE auctions
• RWE Commissions Cartwheel 150 MW / 300 MWh BESS Project: comparable grid-scale battery project economics