While everyone talks about solar plants, the real next step in energy is less visible but more important - battery systems. That was the message from Todor Andzusev of "Fero Invest" at the MAKO CIGRE expert forum in Skopje, where the discussion centered on what renewable energy simply can't do without.

The logic is simple, the consequences large. Solar panels produce power during the day, when it's cheapest and in surplus; batteries store that energy and sell it in the evening, when demand and price spike. Without that storage option, they say, the potential of renewable sources can't be fully tapped.

Macedonia has already taken the first step. In 2025, "Fero Invest" installed the first commercial battery system in the country, with all the necessary permits - construction, grid connection approval, and an energy storage license. The company has already deployed over 250 MWh of battery systems, with another roughly 70 MWh in development.

Andzusev warned that installing a battery system is "far more complex than building a solar plant" - it requires engineering design, software integration, grid compliance, and day-to-day management. In other words, it's not enough to buy the batteries; you have to know how to run them.

For a country that has struggled with energy dependence for years, this is a rare piece of good news from the private sector. The question now is whether the state and regulators will keep pace with the companies, or whether batteries will remain the isolated success of a few advanced firms, while the system as a whole keeps lagging behind.