The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Raiffeisen Bank International provided €110 million (~$122 million) in funding to build and operate two solar projects in southeastern Romania. The Iepuresti and Ghimpati solar projects have a total installed capacity of around 300 MW.
EBRD will provide a loan of €55 million (~$61 million), which will be split into two tranches of €25 million (~$27.74 million) and €30 million (~$33.29 million), and another €55 million (~$61 million) will be from Raiffeisen Bank International.
Once operational, EBRD claims the projects will produce about 386 GW/h of clean electricity annually, which will be sold on the local market.
RTG Solar Energy and Solis Imperium own both solar projects; both companies are incorporated in Romania and are majority-owned by OY Nofar Energy, an Israeli renewable energy company.
Grzegorz Zielinski, EBRD Head of Energy Europe, said, “We are excited to support Nofar Energy’s renewable energy investments in Romania with the support of the InvestEU guarantee. These solar power plants will increase Romania’s renewable capacity, supporting the country’s ambition to add 11.9 GW of new renewable capacity by 2030.”
Earlier this year, EBRD and French asset manager Eiffel Investment Group provided a joint loan of €45 million (~$48.83 million) to PL-SUN Sp.z.o.o to construct a portfolio of solar plants.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2024 Solar Funding and M&A report, large-scale solar project funding in 1H 2024 came to $19.9 billion in 117 deals compared to $14.9 billion in 113 deals in 1H 2023.
This week, Lightsource bp, a solar project developer, and its joint-venture partner, Contact Energy, secured NZ$267 million (~$161 million) in funding for its 168 MWdc Kōwhai Park solar project in Christchurch, New Zealand. The debt package is structured as a green financing loan, with the lenders jointly underwriting it.
