A pension fund will join the EBRD and EU Modernisation Fund in investing around €16 million (US$18.5 million) in a project on Croatia pairing large-scale BESS and a VPP.
Development finance institution European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is leading on the investment in IE‑Energy Projekt, the vehicle for a project combining a merchant 60MW battery energy storage system (BESS) and a virtual power plant (VPP) network in Šibenik, Croatia.
The EBRD initially announced its €16.8 million investment in December 2024, saying the project was one from Slovenia-headquartered regional BESS platform NGEN.
An equivalent equity investment of €16.8 million will also be provided by Raiffeisen Mandatory and Voluntary Pension Funds, an institutional investor, the EBRD said yesterday (22 October).
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Raiffeisen Mandatory and Voluntary Pension Funds is part of the Austria-based Raiffeisen Banking Group, a de-centralised group of co-operative banks.
The combination of a large-scale BESS and VPP network will allow for real-time balancing of electricity supply and demand, enhancing the flexibility of Croatia’s power grid and enabling the integration of more renewables, EBRD said.
Miljan Ždrale, EBRD Director for Central Europe, said: “This investment marks a milestone in Croatia’s green transition. It supports the deployment of next-generation energy infrastructure and strengthens the resilience of the national grid, opening the door for more clean energy sources.”
The EBRD has been active in funding renewable and BESS projects in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region, providing a first loss guarantee-backed financing to IPP Renalfa for its regional deployments and a loan to Ukrainian energy company KNESS for a BESS project there.
Like other countries in the CEE region, the energy storage market in Croatia looks likely to receive a kickstart from a government capex support scheme partially using EU funds, first revealed by the government in early 2024.
