The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting a large-scale battery storage system in Scornicești, Romania. The project, co-owned by Poland-based R.Power and France-based Eiffel Investment Group, will have an installed capacity of 127 MW / 254 MWh.
The Bank will provide up to 44 million euros to support the project’s development, construction and operation, on a non-recourse project finance basis. Part of the EBRD financing (29 million euros) will be supported by the InvestEU first loss guarantee.
Romania’s updated National Energy and Climate Plan targets 38.3 per cent renewables in final energy consumption by 2030. The Scornicești project is expected to support greater integration of renewable energy, and it will be among the first large-scale standalone BESS in Romania.
The system will participate in Romania’s developing ancillary and balancing services market, with mainly merchant-based revenues generated through an optimisation agreement with Slovenian energy trader GEN-I.
To mitigate the higher risk profile associated with merchant operations, the project includes an InvestEU first loss guarantee. The InvestEU programme, designed to accelerate sustainable transition across EU member states, provides risk-sharing support for innovative green infrastructure.
The financing is being provided to a project company incorporated in Romania. Overall, the EBRD has invested more than 12.5 billion euros in 591 projects in Romania.