The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting a five-country battery storage initiative by Slovenian developer NGEN Energetske Rešitve with a €70 million ($81.3 million) loan, backed by an EU first loss guarantee, in one of the first multi-country BESS portfolios in Central Europe.
The EBRD, a multilateral development bank, has provided a €70 million loan to Slovenia-based NGEN Energetske Rešitve to finance five large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, backed by a first loss guarantee from the EU’s InvestEU Fund.
According to the EBRD, the five systems will together provide a capacity of 302 MW. The portfolio includes one system each in Latvia, Romania and Slovenia, and two in Poland. The EBRD said the facilities in Latvia and Slovenia will be among the largest standalone utility-scale BESS in their respective markets, where large-scale energy storage remains underdeveloped. All systems will be supplied by Tesla and will operate under a trading model, selling directly into wholesale markets.
The EBRD described the transaction as one of the first multi-country storage portfolios in Central Europe. The investment is supported by InvestEU risk reduction through a first loss guarantee and technical assistance from the EU Advisory Hub.
In addition to the loan, EBRD is providing technical cooperation to strengthen NGEN’s cybersecurity resilience, including the implementation of industry-aligned standards, penetration testing of industrial systems and the deployment of advanced cyber risk mitigation solutions. The EBRD said the support is intended to increase operational reliability and align NGEN’s digital infrastructure with international best practices.
NGEN is a vertically integrated energy storage company that develops and operates BESS assets, provides engineering, procurement and construction services for large-scale BESS, and delivers residential, commercial and industrial battery systems.
EBRD has been active in the Central and Eastern European storage market, recently providing a €70 million loan to Hungarian independent power producer (IPP) Renalfa for a 450 MW solar portfolio, together with a 250 MW/1 GWh BESS, and taking its first battery equity stake in a Croatian project in 2025. Grid-scale BESS capacity has grown approximately twelvefold in four years, with merchant mark-up emerging as one of the fastest growing segments in Europe’s wholesale markets.
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