Battery storage is becoming financeable in Southeast Europe, but lenders need to assess technical performance, grid access, market revenues and contracts under downside scenarios. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing projects in Romania and Bulgaria among three battery developments identified for 2026.
In Romania, the standalone Scornicesti project has 127 MW and 254 MWh of capacity, with an EBRD financing package of up to 44 million euros. In Bulgaria, the EBRD and Raiffeisen are backing Tenevo with a 60 million euros financing package; its capacity is 246 MW and 512.5 MWh. Together, the two projects have 373 MW of power capacity.
North Macedonia’s Bitola project has 100 MW and 400 MWh of capacity, an estimated cost of 98 million euros, and sovereign and concessional support.
What lenders need to assess
A lender-grade battery energy storage system (BESS) case needs a full operating, market and degradation assessment, not only an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) price and a forecast spread. Commercial banks should examine the physical asset and its long-term performance, using usable energy rather than nameplate energy in the model.
That model should account for round-trip efficiency at different operating points, auxiliary consumption, annual degradation, warranted throughput, augmentation assumptions, temperature effects and availability guarantees. A low EPC price cannot replace a credible long-term performance curve.
Lenders should verify grid connection rights, charging and export limits, metering, dispatch control, eligibility for balancing products, network charges and any restrictions on simultaneous participation in different markets. Contracts with an optimiser or trader should make clear who controls dispatch and who bears imbalance and penalty risks.
Revenue models should run hourly scenarios for day-ahead, intraday and ancillary services, apply separate downside haircuts and account for price-spread compression as competing batteries enter service. Stress tests should include years with low volatility, high degradation, delayed availability and reduced balancing prices.
Credit packages should address operating risks through EPC liquidated damages, battery warranties, operations and maintenance support, insurance, reserve accounts and sponsor completion support. A project is bankable when its downside case still provides adequate debt-service coverage after realistic technical and market stress, rather than relying on an attractive equity internal rate of return in the base case.
