EBRD to Finance Renewable Energy Project in Hungary

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing EUR 70 million of financing as part of a EUR 210 million package with commercial banks to special purpose vehicles owned by Renalfa IPP for the development of a 450 MW solar park with a 250 MW /1 GWh battery energy storage system in Szihalom, NE Hungary.

Once operational, the project will deliver around 448 GWh of renewable electricity. The project will sell all of the electricity produced by the solar parks in the Hungarian market without a support scheme or a corporate power purchase agreement, the EBRD said on Monday.

By integrating utility scale battery storage with solar power generation, the project will help address intermittency challenges, enhance grid flexibility and improve energy security, it added.

Anca Ionescu, EBRD Regional Head Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic, said this investment is EBRD’s first energy project in the country since 2010.

Renalfa IPP, a joint venture between Renalfa Solarpro Group and French infrastructure fund manager RGREEN INVEST, is a regional independent power producer active across Central and Eastern Europe.

Since the start of its operations in Hungary, the EBRD has invested more than EUR 3.7 billion in the country.