Romania’s 127 MW / 254 MWh Scornicesti standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) has secured a financing package of up to 44 million euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The non-recourse project finance has risk support from InvestEU and provides a precedent for financing merchant storage in the region. Scornicesti is among Romania’s first large standalone batteries built around substantial merchant exposure rather than a conventional long-term power purchase agreement.
The project’s cash flows are separated from its sponsors’ wider balance sheets, so debt service must be demonstrated by the battery itself. The financing case requires disciplined hourly revenue modelling, enforceable market-access arrangements, conservative assumptions about degradation and downside scenarios; a simple forecast of average spreads is not sufficient. The structure shows that merchant storage can support non-recourse debt when revenues are modelled in detail, risks are contractually allocated and the downside case still supports debt-service coverage.
Storage capacity and competition grow
Reported operational storage in Romania stood at 1,162 MW and 2,312 MWh on 1 October 2026, compared with 494 MW and about 914 MWh at the start of 2026. The fleet’s expansion has shifted the market from early scarcity toward growing competition among batteries for arbitrage and balancing revenues, making downside testing increasingly important to project financing.
Romania’s Modernisation Fund issued a 150 million euro call for standalone batteries, targeting at least 2,174 MWh of additional capacity. Aid was capped at 69,000 euros per MWh and 15 million euros per company. Grants can reduce storage projects’ capital intensity but do not remove operating risk as more batteries compete for market revenues.
The Scornicesti financing shifts the regional debate toward how much merchant risk banks will accept and at what leverage. Its project-finance structure makes the battery’s own revenue performance central to debt repayment, rather than relying on sponsors’ wider balance sheets.
