EBRD backs NGEN with €70 million for 302 MW of storage

NGEN has secured up to €70 million in financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to build and operate five large-scale battery energy storage systems across four EU markets. The loan is supported by a first-loss guarantee from the EU's InvestEU Fund.

The portfolio comprises one system each in Latvia, Romania and Slovenia, and two in Poland, adding 302 MW of storage capacity in total. All five will use Tesla equipment. The facilities in Latvia and Slovenia are expected to be among the largest standalone utility-scale battery installations in their respective markets, where large-scale storage is still at an early stage.

The systems will operate under a merchant model, selling energy directly into wholesale markets rather than relying solely on regulated grid service contracts. The EBRD has described the transaction as one of the first multi-country merchant storage portfolios in Central Europe.

Alongside the loan, the EBRD is providing technical cooperation to strengthen NGEN's cybersecurity resilience, including the implementation of industry-aligned standards, penetration testing of industrial control systems, and deployment of cyber-risk mitigation tools. NGEN has also committed to raising the share of women in its workforce from 22 to 27 percent over the next five years.

For the wider region, the financing addresses a structural gap. Central European grids are absorbing rising volumes of renewable generation while flexible capacity has not kept pace. Storage that can be dispatched against market prices and system conditions is the fastest way to close that gap, and multilateral financing of merchant portfolios makes it possible to build at the speed the transition requires.