Photon Energy’s Solar Portfolio Supported by EBRD and EU

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending EUR 15 million to Photon Energy NV, a regional renewable energy producer, to support its activity in Romania and Poland.

Photon Energy NV is the holding company for Photon Energy Group, and is listed on the Warsaw, Prague and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges as well as XETRA. They are headquartered in Amsterdam, with offices in Australia and across Europe.

Photon Energy NV is a regional renewable energy producer with an operating portfolio of 133 MW in small to mid-sized solar PV power plants across Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Australia.

Photon Energy delivers solar power solutions that cover the entire lifecycle of photovoltaic projects. Since its foundation in 2008, Photon Energy has built and commissioned solar power plants with a combined capacity of over 150 MWp and currently provides operations and maintenance services for over 540 MWp worldwide. As an independent power producer, Photon Energy’s portfolio includes power plants with a combined capacity of 123.4 MWp, with over 1.2 GWp currently under development.

The EBRD’s investment will enable Photon to complete the construction of a portfolio of six solar parks in Romania with a total installed capacity of 29 MW. This, in turn, will boost Photon’s capacity to advance the development of other renewable assets in the EBRD regions.

As part of the project, the EBRD will also support Lerta, Photon’s energy management services subsidiary in Poland, with investments in research and development to help expand the company’s technological know-how and broaden its service offer. This will enable Lerta to be well positioned in the incoming capacity market and demand-side response auctions in Poland.

Lerta is a company developing modern technological solutions for the energy sector. The company, among others, offers energy sellers support in business digitisation and development, as well as in tailoring their offer by means of an expert metering and analysis system. The Lerta platform, based on proprietary hardware, software, and AI solutions, enables measurement and analysis of electricity generated and its consumption by households and business customers. The technology allows, among other things, management over distributed electricity-generating units and intelligent control of devices in consumers’ homes.

Fast-growing renewable energy developers like Photon are central to the achievement of the European Union’s (EU) energy policy and decarbonisation targets. At the same time, efficient markets for energy services are key to ensuring the most efficient use of available renewable sources and remain critical for securing grid stability and maintaining a demand-supply balance in the electricity network.

The EBRD loan benefits from first-loss risk cover from the European Union (EU) under its InvestEU programme.

“This is the EBRD’s first renewable energy project in Romania to be structured on a fully merchant basis and demonstrates a market-based alternative for the development of the country’s renewable energy sector. We are confident that such financing will pave the way for a more competitive renewable energy and electricity market,” said Grzegorz Zieliński, EBRD Director, Head of Energy Europe.

The EBRD, a leader in climate finance, has to date invested over EUR 11 billion in 528 projects in Romania, and more than EUR 14 billion in 527 projects in Poland.