Episode
How to Develop Battery Storage in Emerging Markets - Ion Ventures
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- Published
- May 5, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2067
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- https://www.spreaker.com/episode/how-to-develop-battery-storage-in-emerging-markets-ion-ventures--71870945
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Summary
Developing battery storage in emerging markets isn't a technology problem - it's a regulatory, offtake, and capital problem. The frameworks, offtake structures, and capital mandates weren't built for storage and that gap is exactly where the risk sits.Hassen Bali, co-founder and director at Ion Ventures, joins Ed Porter to discuss what it actually takes to develop battery storage projects across markets at very different stages of maturity, from the UK to Southeast Asia.They cover:- Why battery storage development demands a different approach to solar or wind and why you have to decide your commercial endpoint before you break ground, not after.- How project conversion rates in the UK BESS market have dropped from 30–40% in the early days to roughly 10–15% today, and how that affects pipeline management and investor communications.- Why early-stage BESS markets like Malaysia and the Philippines are still reliant on bilateral offtake and what that means for project bankability.- Why FCA-regulated investors face hard legal barriers to project finance in sub-investment-grade countries and what that means for who can actually back early-stage BESS projects.- Hassen's contrarian view: that reform of merit order and legacy thermal contracts is the most direct lever for accelerating energy transition globally even if it means unwinding agreements that investors consider bulletproof.Want to model BESS revenue across different market structures? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, is built for exactly these questions. Free sign up here. Transcript available here: Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:53 What People Get Wrong About Developing Battery Storage Projects2:41 BESS Project Development Pipeline: How to Manage Investors and Conversion Rates5:58 Why Ion Ventures Expanded Into Southeast…