The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing up to €120 million to support the development of Econergy’s Părău 2 project — a 342 MW solar power plant with a co-located battery storage system — in Brașov, Romania.
The financing is for the development, construction and operation of the project, which combines solar photovoltaic generation with a 150 MW/300 MWh battery energy storage system, the EBRD informed on Friday.
The package includes an “A loan” from the EBRD of up to €57 million and a further “B loan” of up to €63 million, it said. Under the EBRD model, an A loan is funded directly by the bank, while a B loan is funded by commercial lenders alongside it.
Total debt financing for the project is expected to reach up to €229 million, with the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, OTP Bank and Exim Banca Românească among the co-financiers.
Support from the European Union will include a first-loss guarantee under the InvestEU programme covering up to €115 million, which the EBRD said is designed to help mitigate risks linked to the project’s exposure to merchant revenue — income dependent on market electricity prices.
Georgios Gkiaouris, the EBRD’s Head of Energy Europe, said the bank was backing “one of the country’s pioneering solar and battery storage investments”, while noting EU support through InvestEU.
Contract-for-difference backing
The project is backed by Romania’s Contract for Difference scheme, under which a fixed “strike price” is set for electricity to provide revenue stability, according to the EBRD.
The solar plant has secured a 125 MWac allocation in the first auction at a strike price of €49.4 per MWh for 15 years, while the remaining capacity will operate on a merchant basis.
Econergy chief executive Eyal Podhorzer said the financing package totalled €229 million and involved “a consortium of six international lenders”.
The EBRD noted it has invested more than €12.7 billion in Romania through over 600 projects to date.
