The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a USD 202 million loan to Public Power Corporation to finance the planning, construction and operation of approximately 400 megawatts of new wind and solar capacity across three countries in south-eastern Europe.

Deal Structure and EU Backing

The financing will benefit from support under the InvestEU programme, which provides a first-loss guarantee backed by the European Union. The EBRD said this risk-sharing arrangement will enable longer-term financing on terms not readily available in the market, making it possible to support large-scale renewable energy investments spanning multiple countries simultaneously.

InvestEU's involvement is designed to extend the maturity profile of the debt beyond what commercial lenders would typically offer for projects of this scale and geographic complexity.

PPC is described by the EBRD as the leading integrated utility group in south-eastern Europe, with operations covering the generation and distribution of electricity as well as the sale of advanced energy products and services. The company operates primarily in Greece, North Macedonia and Romania, with a growing renewable energy footprint in Bulgaria, Croatia and Italy.

Scale of Clean Energy Output and Emissions Impact

Once operational, the new wind and solar installations are expected to generate around 760 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually. The EBRD estimates this output will reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 390,000 tonnes, a figure the bank characterises as equivalent to removing around 260,000 average passenger cars from the road each year.

The project is intended to increase the share of renewable sources in the total energy production of Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania's respective power systems.

Beyond the climate dimension, the EBRD noted that the additional clean generation capacity will also contribute to improving energy security across the region, an increasingly prominent policy objective in south-eastern Europe as countries seek to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Workforce Development and Gender Inclusion

Alongside the core infrastructure financing, the project includes a grant of approximately USD 86,625 under InvestEU's social investment and skills mandate. The funding is directed at supporting the development of skills linked to the energy transition, reflecting a broader objective of ensuring the workforce is equipped to operate and maintain next-generation energy infrastructure.

As part of this component, PPC will establish an accredited training programme focused on battery energy storage systems. The programme has been developed in partnership with the European Battery Academy and is expected to train up to 150 engineers by 2028.

The EBRD stated that the training initiative will also include measures specifically aimed at encouraging women to take on technical and leadership roles within the energy sector.

EBRD's Existing Footprint in the Region

The transaction builds on what the EBRD describes as a longstanding cooperation with PPC in Greece, where the bank has previously supported the utility's shift toward clean and sustainable energy generation. The announcement did not provide specifics on prior transactions between the two institutions.

More broadly, the EBRD said it has invested more than USD 30 billion across Bulgaria, Greece and Romania to date, with the stated aim of fostering sustainable growth, competitiveness and the transition to a green economy.

The three countries collectively represent a substantial portion of the bank's operations in south-eastern Europe, and the PPC transaction adds to a series of energy and financial sector deals the institution announced on the same day.

Context for South-Eastern Europe's Energy Transition

The three countries covered by the PPC loan sit at varying stages of their respective energy transitions, but all face the shared challenge of scaling up renewable capacity to meet European Union decarbonisation targets.

The EBRD's decision to route the financing through InvestEU reflects the institutional appetite to use EU budget guarantees as a lever to crowd in longer-dated capital for projects that might otherwise struggle to attract commercially competitive terms.

The 400 megawatts of new capacity to be financed under this arrangement represents a meaningful addition to the renewable portfolios of each country.

The combination of wind and solar technologies across Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania allows PPC to diversify generation profiles and manage the intermittency characteristics inherent to each technology type, though the EBRD's announcement did not specify the precise breakdown between wind and solar or the allocation of capacity between the three countries.

The inclusion of battery energy storage training within the project signals an acknowledgement that hardware investment alone is insufficient to sustain the energy transition, and that human capital development in storage and grid management disciplines will be equally critical as the region continues to integrate higher volumes of variable renewable generation.

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