GreenEdge: Best in BESS - ENG

jerzykuzminski

A podcast about battery energy storage and the Polish renewable energy market — no marketing fluff, just real examples and verified information. We cover the entire BESS project lifecycle: development, permitting, EPC, commissioning, optimization, and O&M. Benefits, risks, real costs, investor mistakes, and how to spot a reliable contractor. Universal BESS insights plus Polish market specifics — for investors entering storage business or companies looking to cut energy costs with C&I solutions. Hosted by Jerzy Kuźmiński

  1. Jul 26

    13: Owner's Engineer on BESS Project

    The market is speeding up. More tenders, more conversations, more investors who, after months of just watching the market, suddenly have a budget and want to move. And that's exactly when the first contract from a supplier or contractor lands — and you're right back at square one: vague clauses, responsibility spread across three parties, a warranty with no definition of what it actually covers. In episode thirteen of Best in BESS, I talk about the function that's supposed to prevent this before it ever happens — Owner's Engineer, understood not as a stamp in the site log, but as real engineering support across the entire life of the project. I walk through this in two stages: pre-investment support at the term sheet, specification, and contractor selection stage, and on-site support during final component selection, calculation verification, and physical presence during construction — with examples straight from Rova Systems' projects running across several European markets at once. Contact: contact@greenedge-solutions.com More at www.greenedge-solutions.com And www.rova.pl

  2. Jul 5

    12: Ancillary Services: FCR, aFRR, mFRR

    FCR, aFRR, and mFRR are three different products — not three names for the same thing. Each one works differently, has different technical requirements, a different revenue profile, and a different risk structure. A surprising number of people in this industry use these three acronyms interchangeably. That's an expensive misunderstanding when you're building a financial model or negotiating an aggregator contract. In this episode I go through how each service works and at what timescale, what your system technically needs to qualify, why DUB certification is the foundation but not the full picture for FCR and aFRR, what realistic revenues look like for a 10 MW / 20 MWh project in Poland, and why your aggregator's balance sheet matters just as much as their algorithm. Questions or looking for support on a BESS project? contact@greenedge-solutions.com  www.greenedge-solutions.com

  3. Jun 21

    11: Entering the Balancing Market in Poland

    In this episode we walk you through everything that stands between a commissioned BESS project and its first revenue from ancillary services: the regulatory structure of the Polish balancing market, the hardware certification requirements that are entirely specific to Poland, the IT infrastructure PSE requires, and the DUB qualification process itself — including where projects consistently get stuck. The NC RfG certification and the PTPiREE approved hardware list are not details. They are prerequisites. If your inverter or PCS is not on the Polish white list, you will not receive grid connection conditions, you will not complete the execution design with the DSO, and you will not energize the project. Major international suppliers — companies that have been in this market for years — lose their place on that list because they didn't respond to documentation requests in time. This is the kind of thing that needs to be checked during supplier selection, not after the supply contract is signed. Questions or looking for support on a BESS project? contact@greenedge-solutions.com www.greenedge-solutions.com

  4. Jun 7

    10: BESS Project Financing

    You can have the right location, a solid grid connection agreement, a credible supplier, and an experienced EPC on the shortlist. None of that matters if the financing doesn't close. And the reason it doesn't close is almost always the same: the investor structured the project without understanding what the bank actually needs to see. In this episode I go through BESS project financing from the bank's perspective first — how they think about risk, what DSCR means in practice for a storage project, and why the hybrid versus stand-alone distinction shapes everything that follows. Then I cover the three main commercial structures for optimizer cooperation, because that's where the bankability question usually gets resolved. And I close with two issues specific to the Polish market right now that every investor needs to have on their radar. The projects that move fastest through due diligence are the ones that were prepared for the questions before they were asked. Looking for support with BESS project financing, financial modelling, or commercial structuring in Poland? contact@greenedge-solutions.com  www.greenedge-solutions.com

  5. May 31

    09: The EPC Tender - Selecting the right Contractor

    You have your permits, your equipment order, and your grid connection agreement. Now you need someone to actually build the thing. And this is where a lot of projects go wrong — not because of bad technology or poor financing, but because of a contractor selection process that wasn't designed to find the right partner. In this episode I cover the full EPC procurement process from both sides of the table — I've run RFP processes as an investor advisor and prepared bids as a contractor representative. That dual perspective changes what I think actually matters here. In this episode: Three EPC delivery models — Full EPC, BoP, and Full Wrap with O&M — and what each one means for risk allocation and costWhen to issue your RFP and how to structure the process in phases, from RFI to BAFOWhat a well-constructed tender document actually contains — and where most RFPs failHow many contractors to invite and why a wide-distribution tender produces worse outcomesThe site visit — when to organise it and what it tells you about a contractor before you sign anythingHow to evaluate offers beyond price: track record, team, financial stability, contract postureRed flags on both sides — signals from contractors that something is wrong, and signals from investors that push the best contractors awayHow the Polish EPC market compares to Germany and the UK, and what that means for your procurement strategyThe cheapest offer is very often the most expensive project. Looking for support with EPC procurement or owner's engineering in Poland?  contact@greenedge-solutions.com  www.greenedge-solutions.com

  6. May 24

    08: NIS2 and Cybersecurity in BESS Project

    On the 19th of February 2026, Poland signed the amended Act on the National Cybersecurity System — the Polish implementation of the EU NIS2 Directive. For BESS investors and developers, this is not an IT compliance story. It's a project risk story, which affects you whether your entity is directly regulated or not. In this episode: why the energy sector — including battery storage — is explicitly covered by NIS2; how flow-down clauses mean NIS2 reaches your project even if you fall below the direct regulation threshold; what a BESS actually looks like as a cybersecurity target — the three system layers and four realistic attack vectors; what the Polish KSC Act requires from you and on what timeline; what to require from each party in your supply chain — BESS supplier, SCADA integrator, EPC contractor, O&M provider, and aggregator; what cybersecurity testing needs to happen before you sign off on commissioning and who should conduct it; which contract clauses lock this in; and why building security into a fifteen-year asset from day one is a fundamentally different calculation than treating it as an optional extra. Questions? Contact: contact@greenedge-solutions.com You can find our more at: www.greenedge-solutions.com

  7. May 9

    07: SGU - Significant Grid User

    In September 2025, for the first time in Poland's history, battery energy storage systems were included on the SGU list — Significant Grid Users. If you are developing or financing a BESS project with a capacity of at least 10 MW and 40 MWh — this episode is for you. In this episode: what SGU is and where this obligation comes from; who ends up on the list and how that process works from the investor's and developer's side; what specific technical and operational obligations the SGU status imposes; why there is no compensation for being an SGU and what costs to expect; what grid following, grid forming, and black start mean — and why this decision should be made at the EPC specification stage; whether you can build an off-grid installation and what that means legally for a large BESS project; and why SGU, Poland's grid connection reform, and NIS2 together tell one story — BESS as critical grid infrastructure. Questions? Write to: contact@greenedge-solutions.com  More: www.greenedge-solutions.com

  8. May 2

    06: Choosing a BESS Supplier

    You've developed your project, secured the permits, and now you need to buy the system. And this is where a lot of investors — including experienced ones — discover they weren't as prepared as they thought. The BESS supplier market is crowded, opaque, and the differences between offers that look identical on paper can be enormous in practice. In this episode, I walk through how the supplier market actually works — cell manufacturers, system integrators, technology developers, and why the distinction matters. I cover the structural shift that's making life harder for smaller investors as top-tier suppliers chase volume, how to evaluate supplier credibility before you commit, what scope of supply you should actually be asking for, how to run a proper RFP and BAFO process, what certifications matter specifically for projects in Poland, and the red flags in offers and term sheets that tell you something is wrong before you've signed anything. e-mail: contact@greenedge-solution.com www.greenedge-solutions.com

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A podcast about battery energy storage and the Polish renewable energy market — no marketing fluff, just real examples and verified information. We cover the entire BESS project lifecycle: development, permitting, EPC, commissioning, optimization, and O&M. Benefits, risks, real costs, investor mistakes, and how to spot a reliable contractor. Universal BESS insights plus Polish market specifics — for investors entering storage business or companies looking to cut energy costs with C&I solutions. Hosted by Jerzy Kuźmiński

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