Survey: Battery storage operators struggle with performance, data access and supplier accountability
Source：pv magazine
The second edition of the BESS Pros Survey, first conducted in 2025 by battery analytics software provider Twaice, has been released. Titled “The State of BESS Operations: Insights from the BESS Pros Survey 2026”, the report summarizes the results of an international survey of 117 professionals directly responsible for the management, monitoring, or operation of large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).
The findings point to a growing disconnect between deployment and operations. “Time-consuming investigations, fragmented data, and unclear responsibilities are proving to be significant bottlenecks,” Twaice said, concluding that BESS projects are “growing faster than their operational concepts.”
According to the survey, many operational processes are struggling to keep pace with rapid market growth and increasing system complexity. A total of 41% of respondents reported that on-site issues result in significant or total revenue losses, while 50% identified system performance and availability as their primary challenge. In addition, 40% said they have only limited access to the data required to operate their battery storage assets effectively.
Twaice noted that many operations teams still rely heavily on reactive processes, making problem resolution time-consuming and directly undermining the economic performance of storage systems. These challenges are compounded by heterogeneous portfolios – with multiple storage technologies within a single fleet – alongside rising compliance requirements. Additional complexity often stems from fragmented tool landscapes created by acquisitions and rapid portfolio expansion.
Twaice CEO Stephan Rohr said the industry is entering a new phase. “The sector has proven it can deploy battery storage at scale. Now the question is whether operations can keep pace. As portfolios grow, operational processes must scale with them to enable faster problem resolution, maintain performance, and manage complexity,” he said.
Supplier accountability also emerged as a concern. Nearly 73% of respondents rely on long-term service agreements, yet the survey found that resolving issues frequently requires lengthy analysis. While 48% of operators rated suppliers’ willingness to take responsibility for resolving problems positively, this metric was still among the lowest-rated categories. According to Twaice, unclear service definitions, escalation pathways, and accountability structures often delay response times, with 47% of respondents reporting difficulty holding suppliers accountable for service commitments.
On data availability, the survey found that access itself is not the primary issue. Instead, 50% of respondents cited the lack of a centralized, unified data platform as the main challenge. Operators must navigate multiple portals, tools, and dashboards, often with inconsistent definitions of key performance indicators (KPIs). “What’s striking,” Rohr said, “is not the lack of data in BESS operations, but the difficulty of turning that data into insights teams can trust and act on.”