The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is backing a five-country merchant battery storage push by Slovenian developer NGEN Energetske Rešitve with a €70 million ($81.3 million) loan supported by an EU first-loss guarantee, in one of the first multi-country merchant 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) across Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, backed by a first-loss guarantee from the EU’s InvestEU Fund.
The five systems will deliver a combined 302 MW of capacity, according to the EBRD. 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 merchant model, selling directly into wholesale markets.
The EBRD described the transaction as one of the first multi-country merchant-based storage portfolios in central Europe. The investment is supported by InvestEU de-risking through a first-loss guarantee and technical assistance from the EU Advisory Hub.
Alongside the loan, the EBRD is providing technical cooperation to strengthen NGEN’s cybersecurity resilience, including implementation of industry-aligned standards, penetration testing of industrial systems, and deployment of advanced cyber-risk mitigation solutions. The EBRD said the support is intended to enhance operational reliability and align NGEN’s digital infrastructure with international best practice.
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 supplies residential, commercial, and industrial battery systems.
The EBRD has been active across 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 co‑located with a 250 MW/1 GWh BESS, as well as taking its first merchant battery equity stake in a Croatian project in 2025. Global grid-scale BESS capacity has grown roughly 12‑fold in four years, with merchant storage in Europe’s wholesale markets emerging as one of the fastest‑growing segments.
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