BULGARIA —Tenevo Solar Technologies has secured a €60 million financing package from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) to develop an additional battery energy storage system (BESS) in south-eastern Bulgaria. The financing comprises a €30 million loan from the EBRD and €30 million in parallel funding from RBI. The capital will support construction and operation of a facility with 246 MW of power capacity and 512.5 MWh of storage capacity at the Tenevo energy site.
The new installation will be integrated with an existing 242 MWp solar photovoltaic plant and a 65 MW battery system with 260 MWh of storage capacity. Adding the new unit will expand the site's ability to store electricity generated during periods of high renewable output and release it when generation is lower or demand increases. This can help manage fluctuations in solar power production, reduce pressure on the electricity grid and improve the use of renewable generation.
The development comes as Bulgaria increases investment in electricity storage to accommodate a growing share of renewable energy in its power mix. Battery systems are becoming an important part of the country's energy infrastructure because they provide flexibility to balance variable generation and support more reliable electricity supply. The expansion at Tenevo will add large-scale storage capacity to an established renewable energy site, strengthening its role in the country's evolving power market.
For energy developers and investors, the financing demonstrates the role of commercial lenders and development finance institutions in funding capital-intensive storage assets. The EBRD's participation alongside RBI provides a structured financing route for a project that combines battery infrastructure with an existing solar generation facility. The investment may also support further development of hybrid renewable energy sites in Bulgaria and the wider Central and Eastern European market, where grid flexibility is increasingly important to renewable energy deployment.
Tenevo Solar Technologies is a Bulgarian project company established to develop and operate renewable energy assets at the Tenevo site. It previously received €50 million in EBRD financing for its solar photovoltaic plant. The company is jointly owned by Renalfa IPP and Danish renewable energy developer Eurowind Energy. The EBRD is a multilateral development bank that finances private-sector development and infrastructure projects across its regions of operation, while RBI provides banking and financial services across Central and Eastern Europe.
The additional battery system will increase the energy storage capacity co-located with Tenevo's solar generation assets, supporting the site's expansion and Bulgaria's broader efforts to strengthen electricity system flexibility and integrate more renewable power.
