Renalfa IPP has secured €315m holdco financing from a consortium of lenders led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to accelerate the energy transition in central and eastern Europe.
The financing will support a €1.2bn investment programme for Renalfa’s portfolio, following which around 1.6GW of generation assets and around 3.3GWh of co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS) will be operational across Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and North Macedonia.
This will deliver around 2.3TWh of green electricity annually, enough to power 920,000 households, while the integration of BESS will help to improve grid stability.
The consortium was led by the EBRD, which lent €100m on its own account, and mobilised an additional €100m from commercial participants under an A/B loan structure.
The EBRD is a leading implementing partner for the EU’s InvestEU programme, which supports sustainable investment, innovation and job creation in the European Union.
The EBRD secured InvestEU’s first loss guarantee for the transaction. This is the first time the EBRD is mobilising by using the guarantee for an A/B loan, meaning that the banks participating under the syndicated B loan will also benefit, indirectly, from EU risk-sharing support offered to the EBRD.
The presence of the guarantee helps address risks associated with merchant-based renewable power generation and innovative storage technologies.
Other lenders in the consortium include Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), OTP Bank (OTP), Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), UniCredit, and Kommunalkredit.
Renalfa IPP is a Vienna-based joint venture between Renalfa Solarpro Group and French infrastructure fund manager RGreen Invest focusing on solar, wind and BESS projects.
Renalfa chief executive Ivo Prokopiev said: “The successful raising of growth funding is an important milestone for Renalfa IPP and for our whole group.
“It proves the competitiveness of our integrated model for developing, investing and operating large hybrid assets.
“The early implementation of long duration co-located BESS allows Renalfa IPP to start offering green baseload products to market in central and eastern Europe for the first time.”
RGreen Invest partner Mathilde Ketoff added: “At RGreen Invest, we are incredibly proud to support this landmark financing and to deepen our partnership with Renalfa.”
Vice president of banking at EBRD Matteo Patrone said: “This is a landmark transaction, which will accelerate the much-needed deployment of renewable energy, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and strengthen energy security in a region still heavily dependent on carbon-intensive sources.
“We are proud to have been able to support this transaction, and, leveraging an InvestEU guarantee, to mobilise private sector investors to achieve a strong regional impact.”