The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide project financing for large-scale solar and storage projects in Egypt and Hungary, for project owners HAU Energy/Infinity Power and Renalfa respectively.
EBRD provides US$65 million loan for 200MW solar-plus-storage project in Egypt
The EBRD has extended a US$65 million loan to a renewable energy investment company, HAU Energy, to develop a 200MW solar PV plant co-located with a 120MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Benban, Egypt.
The project is being co-developed by HAU Energy and Infinity Power, an Egypt-based renewable energy firm. The financing will be supported by a technical cooperation package under the EBRD’s Gender and Economic Inclusion framework, which will fund two nationally accredited green skills training programmes aimed at equipping young jobseekers for roles in Egypt’s growing renewables sector.
Moreover, the technical cooperation will support HAU Energy in strengthening its HR practices, embedding gender equality through targeted training to improve women’s access to technical and leadership roles.
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“As the country seeks to diversify its energy mix, reduce reliance on imported fuels and enhance resilience to external shocks, we are extending our partnership with Meridiam and HAU, whose commitment to high standards are instrumental in delivering projects of such impact,” Aida Sitdikova, director of sustainable infrastructure for the EBRD in the Middle East and Africa, said.
HAU Energy was established in 2024 to invest in renewable energy projects in Egypt. The company is owned by Meridiam, Hassan Allam Utilities (HAU) and the EBRD.
See the full original version of this article on PV Tech.
EBRD to finance 450MW solar-plus-storage project in Hungary
Independent power producer (IPP) Renalfa IPP has secured funding from the EBRD for its Szihalom 450MW solar-plus-storage project in Hungary.
The EBRD’s investment will amount to €70 million (US$82 million) and is part of a €210 million financing package alongside commercial banks and marks the European financial institution’s first energy project financing in Hungary since 2010, said Anca Ionescu, EBRD’s regional head in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Currently under construction, the Szihalom solar PV plant will be co-located with a 250MW/1GWh BESS in north-eastern Hungary.
According to EBRD, the financing of the utility-scale solar-plus-storage project represents a first of its kind for a hybrid renewable asset in Central and Eastern Europe. The project in itself is amongst the largest renewable energy development projects in Hungary.
All the electricity generated by the solar PV plant will be directly sold in the Hungarian market without a support scheme or a corporate offtake agreement.
“When operational later this year, this large hybrid asset will allow us to offer green baseload products to Hungarian electricity market and a number of flexibility services to the grid,” said Ivo Prokopiev, CEO of Renalfa IPP.
Solar PV projects have been a significant contributor to reducing the contribution of coal to the Hungarian energy mix since 2019. According to thinktank Ember, solar accounted for nearly one-quarter of the Hungarian energy mix in 2024.
