Energy Unplugged by Aurora EP.253 Christoph Bellin on Battery Storage and Pumped Hydro in Europe
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Sep 2, 2025 Christoph Bellin, a senior energy executive with over two decades in the European energy market, discusses Alpiq's ambitious plans for flexible energy assets. He explains the crucial distinctions between battery storage and pumped hydro, pondering whether they can coexist or if they’re rivals in a decarbonized grid. Bellin shares insights about the evolution of Europe’s energy landscape, the impact of climate change on hydropower, and the vital role of cultural transformation within energy companies to adapt to new market realities.
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Flexibility Is Alpiq's Core
- Alpiq's portfolio is heavily flexible: roughly 80% of its production is dispatchable, rooted in hydro, pumped storage and conventional assets.
- The company sees batteries as complementary to extend that flexibility across Europe.
Complementary Roles Of Hydro And Batteries
- Pumped hydro and batteries serve complementary roles because pumped hydro offers far larger energy duration while batteries scale fast in power and deployment speed.
- Geography, lifetime and project scale fundamentally differentiate where each technology fits in power systems.
Alpiq's First Big Battery Live
- Alpiq is commissioning its first big battery: a 30 MW system in Finland that has started operating.
- Christoph contrasts this with Alpiq's largest pumped hydro at 900 MW to show portfolio diversity.