Meeting Global BESS Demand: A Guide to Scalable, Compliant Battery Energy Storage System Design

The Global Challenge

In 2024, global BESS deployment set a new record, with about 205 GWh installed worldwide and up to a 53% increase year over year¹. To stay on track for 2030, the IEA projects storage deployment must accelerate to roughly six times today’s pace. These key findings are imperative in guiding international project plans and developer strategy.

Renewables plus storage can be built and commissioned far faster than conventional generation, which helps close supply gaps (for example, a large natural gas plant can take close to a decade from plan to operation, while a solar farm project can become fully operational in about 3 years). This continues the shift of attention to battery energy storage systems, where faster turnaround and clear compliance paths make modular designs the smart default.

Grid Stability & Renewable Integration

Storage is now a stability asset as much as an energy asset. After the April 28, 2025 Iberian blackout, Portugal launched a €400 million program to strengthen grid operations and expand battery capacity, showcasing the need for better energy regulation and readiness².

As grids lean on batteries for stability, the battery management system (BMS) becomes the control core that makes those services reliable and safe across sites. The following are some BMS capabilities that contribute to quickly making battery systems grid-ready:

BMS Features that Assist in Grid Stability

• SoC/SoH: Accurate calculations of State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH) at the stack level, with real-time streaming to the controller.
• Continuous Cell Balancing: Balancing cells during operation helps improve ESS uptime. This supports stable renewable output and deters costly downtime.
• Real-Time Operating Limits: Live charge and discharge limits, as well as temperature, voltage, and protection states, allows the EMS to respect utility limits, remain connected during events, and keep the system operating predictably.
• Open Wire Detection: Detects damaged, loose, disconnected, or incorrectly torqued sense wires.
• Electrical Noise Immunity: Utility-scale inverters generate large amounts of common mode noise, which means designs and install practices matter. Battery management systems designed with higher noise immunity and protective circuitry can keep communications stable and data steady.
• Certifications: Component-level UL-Recognition validates the safety and reliability of battery control components. It shortens the path to system-level certifications and aligns with jurisdictions adopting NFPA 855, as well as supports IEC 62619 routes.
• Thermal Monitoring: Real-time cell- and stack-level temperature sensing with configurable thresholds, with data shared to environmental controls to maintain reliability during high renewable ramps and grid disturbances.

Scalability & Modular Design

International rollouts rarely happen all at once. Most sites grow in phases with varying codes and requirements. A modular BMS makes rollouts easier by allowing developers to repeat a proven block, add capacity without revising controls, and keep the system online during servicing.

Modular BESS Design Criteria:

• An expansion-ready architecture that allows adding stacks without taking the site offline.
• A consistent controls and data model with stable measurements, limits, and warnings.
• A repeatable block that works across regions with only minimal-site specific tweaks.
• A supplier with a deep track record of grid projects, so that commissioning, settings, and troubleshooting follow a well-tested playbook.

BMS Capabilities that Enable Scale

• Modular Topology: Manage multiple strings or stacks on one common DC bus with consistent control logic. Add capacity in blocks and isolate sections for service while the rest of the system stays online.
• Firmware and Configuration: Versioned profiles and remote updates so changes roll out safely across all systems without on-site services required.
• Built-In Diagnostics: Event logs and time syncs allow service teams to retrieve the information they need in order to solve issues quickly and avoid repeat visits.

Cost Efficiency & Second-Life Options

The global average lithium-ion pack prices fell ~20% in 2024 to about $115/kWh, which is the biggest annual drop since 2017³. Cell prices trended even lower, assisted by LFP adoption, manufacturing scale, and lower raw-material costs. This reset is improving PV + storage economics in many markets.

What this Means for Design

• Lower pricing makes new batteries the ideal choice.
• Opt for second-life only where it is required or incentivized.
• Design the block for easy augmentation to lower future pack costs.

Second-Life Options

Second-life EV batteries can be viable in targeted use cases when the duty cycle, warranty, and interfaces are well matched. Reviews highlight workable windows where remaining capacity is approximately 70-80% efficiency with degradation already accounted for⁴.

• Where it Fits: pilot projects with reuse or sustainability goals, sites that cycle the battery lightly, or regions that offer incentives to reuse batteries.
• What to Check: verified battery health, clear warranty terms, real efficiency numbers, and a clear path to UL-Recognition and local approvals.
• When to Pass: When you need very high uptime, have a tight commissioning schedule, or when local jurisdiction authorities require new batteries.

BMS Considerations that Protect Cost & Schedule

• Accurate SoC/SoH: Gives the EMS reliable data and helps schedule augmentations at the right time.
• Real-Time Limits: Allows the EMS to follow utility standards, stay online during events, and avoid disturbances that can disrupt uptime.
• Diagnostics and Logs: Clear warnings, timestamps, and trends can reduce on-site visits and retests.
• Compliance-Ready Design: UL 1973 Recognized components that can speed up permits.

Security and Safety Standards

Regulators and utilities worldwide are moving from “preferred” to “expected” when it comes to component transparency, safety evidence, and resiliency. Many companies now weigh not only price and performance, but also origin, traceability, and compliance to recognized safety standards. In North America, this often includes UL-based certifications. In Europe, CE conformity and EN/IEC standards define product acceptance. Globally, many regions are adopting IEC-aligned frameworks to streamline approvals. The goal is the same everywhere: reliable equipment that has validated safety, making it easier to approve and support.

What’s Driving Domestic-Component Requirements

• Security and Vendor Restrictions (US): Recent U.S. actions and utility RFPs reflect concerns about certain foreign-made equipment. One utility RFP explicitly asks bidders to disclose if components come from certain locations. Separate reporting in 2025 highlighted investigations into hardware in specific foreign components, including inverters and batteries⁵.
• Tax-Credit Bonus for Domestic Components (US): Storage projects can earn an extra 10 percentage points on the ITC if they meet domestic-component thresholds, promoting owners and utilities to acquire U.S.-made components⁶.
• Manufacturing and Resilience Priorities (EU): The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act targets about 40% of EU manufacturing capacity for key-clean tech by 2030 and directs developers to consider resilience and sustainability⁷. This aligns well with North American made and certification-ready equipment.
• Cross-Region Acceptance (Worldwide): BMS and controls are tested against both EN/IEC and UL/IEEE expectations for battery safety, system fire behaviour, and DER functions. This helps multinational developers move faster and simplifies permit reviews across regions.
• Federal Component Preferences (CAN): For certain federally funded procurements, Canadian-content rules or preferences can apply, influencing component selection when federal participation is involved.

North American-Based Supply & Support

Global programs move faster when safety-critical controls come from a stable and reputable source with clear documentation, accountable support, and evident field-deployed experience. For battery management systems, this means components and teams you can trust.

Why Companies Prefer North American BMS

• Predictable Certification Paths: Documentation and test evidence that map cleanly to UL 1973, UL 9540, and NFPA 855 expectations.
• Shorter Lead Times: Regional manufacturing and supply reduce schedule risk. Critical replacements are easier to source during construction and after commissioning.
• Traceable and Transparent Supply Chains: Clear component origin, revision control, and quality records that satisfy utility and EPC due-diligence requests.
• Security and Supplier Assurance: Aligns with domestic-content policies and utility RFP requirements, avoids restricted vendors, provides documented cybersecurity practices, and reduces compliance risk and exposure from foreign components.

Key Findings

• Battery storage growth is strong, but meeting 2030 goals requires an even faster buildout. Plans should assume rapid scaling.
• A well-designed BMS is central to grid stability. Accurate SoC/SoH, real-time limits, selective isolation, and solid diagnostics turn capacity into reliability.
• Modular design reduces engineering time, keeps sites online during service, and make multi-country rollouts practical.
• Current LFP pricing makes new batteries the default choice. Second-life can fit niche cases when health, warranty, and approvals are clear.
• Designing and recognizing standards from day one speeds up approvals. In North America that often means UL 9540 and UL 1973. In Europe it means CE routes with IEC/EN 62619, IEC62933, and EN 50549.
• Buyers are prioritizing domestic and traceable components. Clear origin, compliant documentation, and transparency are now important selection criteria and not just “nice-to-haves.”
• North American supply and support can shorten lead times, simplify certification packages, and improve system uptime.

Is your team planning a BESS project or multi-site rollout? Nuvation Energy can help you map the certification path, validate grid-support settings, and define a modular system you can deploy with confidence in North America, the EU, and beyond!

Contact Nuvation Energy to schedule a meeting and learn more.

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¹Hughes, I. (2025, January 14). Global BESS deployments soared 53% in 2024. Energy-Storage.News. https://www.energy-storage.news/global-bess-deployments-soared-53-in-2024/

²Twidale, S., & Chestney, N. (2025, June 18). Explainer: What caused the Iberian power outage and what happens next? Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/what-caused-iberian-power-outage-what-happens-next-2025-06-18/

³BloombergNEF. (2024, December 10). Lithium-ion battery pack prices see largest drop since 2017, falling to $115 per kilowatt-hour. BloombergNEF. https://about.bnef.com/insights/commodities/lithium-ion-battery-pack-prices-see-largest-drop-since-2017-falling-to-115-per-kilowatt-hour-bloombergnef/

⁴Hassan, A., Khan, S. A., Li, R., Su, W., Zhou, X., Wang, M., & Wang, B. (2023). Second-life batteries: A review on power grid applications, degradation mechanisms, and power electronics interface architectures. Batteries, 9(12), 571. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375958188_Second-Life_Batteries_A_Review_on_Power_Grid_Applications_Degradation_Mechanisms_and_Power_Electronics_Interface_Architectures

⁵Central Hudson Gas & Electric. (2024). Appendix C3: Technical Information (Bulk Energy Storage Scheduling and Dispatch Rights Request for Proposals) [PDF]. https://www.cenhud.com/globalassets/pdf/about-us/projects/bulk-energy-storage-june-10-2024/chge-appendix-c3-technical-information-2024.pdf

⁶Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Domestic content bonus credit. https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/domestic-content-bonus-credit

⁷European Commission. (n.d.). Net-Zero Industry Act. https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal/green-deal-industrial-plan/net-zero-industry-act_en