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July 16, 2025
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Electrica sells green bonds for EUR 500 million amid record demand

Electricity supplier and distributor Electrica listed its first green bonds on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. It was the largest issuance of its kind among Romanian companies, excluding financials.

Electrica, in which the Romanian Government controls a stake of just under 50%, issued green bonds worth up to EUR 500 million. It is using the proceeds to finance and refinance its projects, mainly for green energy production and energy storage.

The senior unsecured green bonds, maturing in five years, are now listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Admission to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange is estimated to take place at the beginning of August, Electrica said.

The company’s core activities are electricity distribution and supply and energy services, but it is expanding into renewables and battery storage.

Pricing reaches 2.3 percentage points above benchmark rate

Credit appraisal agency Fitch has assigned the 4.375% senior unsecured green notes a BBB- rating. It is the lowest investment grade. The projects will have a limited connection to Electrica’s 100%-owned distribution and supply subsidiaries Distribuție Energie Electrică Romania (DEER) and Electrica Furnizare, the note adds.

Electrica targets 1 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 alongside the deployment of 900 MWh of energy storage

The company’s inaugural debt securities were priced at a yield of 4.566%, according to a regulatory filing. It was 2.3 percentage points above the benchmark mid-interest rate swap. The demand from investors at the final price exceeded the supply by more than 11.5 times, marking a record oversubscription in bond issuances of Romanian companies, Electrica pointed out.

Moreover, it was the largest green bond issuance in Romania excluding financial institutions. Electrica targets 1 GW of installed capacity by 2030 alongside the deployment of 900 MWh of energy storage.

Electrica grows market capitalization by one fifth this year

Banca Comercială Română (member of Erste Group), BNP Paribas, Citi, ING, J.P. Morgan and Raiffeisen Bank International were the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners in the transaction, while BT Capital Partners, IMI-Intesa Sanpaolo, Société Générale and UniCredit were joint bookrunners.

Electrica has EUR 1.06 billion in market capitalization. Its shares surged 21.1% since the end of last year.

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July 16, 2025
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Montenegro sets November 10 deadline for first solar power auction

Legal entities and entrepreneurs in Montenegro are preparing to compete for market premiums with their solar power projects. The quota for the first such auction in the country is 250 MW, and applications close on November 10.

Following the completion of the legal framework with laws and decrees, the Montenegrin Ministry of Energy and Mining issued a public call for investors to participate in an auction for market premiums with their solar power projects. The government would provide support for 12 years.

Legal entities and entrepreneurs have until November 10 to send the envelopes with bank guarantees, documents proving that they are qualified, and their financial bids. The address is: Ministarstvo energetike i rudarstva, Rimski trg 46, 81000 Podgorica. The first such auction in Montenegro will be held for “unspecified locations,” which means that the planned photovoltaic systems can be located in any area in the country.

The available capacity is 250 MW, and eligible projects are for at least 400 kW each. There is no nominal upper limit for project capacity for which a potential participant bids, except the total quota itself.

However, the quota can be extended, by a maximum of 20%. The government said there is an extra 50 MW available for the inclusion of an entire eligible project that entered the quota only partially, or more such projects, in case the bids for them were equal. But if the part of the capacity that surpassed the quota is larger than the possible extension, the commission would award a market premium only for the part that did fit the quota.

Price to be adjusted for inflation every year

The accepted price, from the financial offer of a participant that obtained the status of a temporarily privileged producer through the auction, will be adjusted for the Eurozone inflation rate once per year.

Some of the qualification conditions are that the project didn’t or doesn’t benefit from government incentives, that construction works haven’t begun and that the developer hasn’t secured financing for their completion.

The lowest bids win, and the maximum allowed price is EUR 65 per MWh. The market premium is awarded via a contract for difference (CfD).

Namely, the operator of a renewable electricity plant has a guaranteed price, approved through the auction. When the firm sells electricity in the market at a higher price, it must return the difference. And vice versa: when the beneficiary gets less per megawatt-hour than the contract price, they are reimbursed.

Bank guarantees are EUR 20 per kW or EUR 40 per kW

As for the bank guarantees, they are determined at EUR 20 per kW (EUR 20,000 per MW) of the offered capacity for participants that have signed a contract for the construction of the infrastructure for a grid connection and for connecting the facility, or EUR 40 per kW for ones that have at least obtained an analysis of the possibility for a grid connection, from the transmission or distribution system operator, according to the documentation.

Upon the expiration of the deadline, the commission conducts the process of determining the eligibility of the bidders and projects, after which it opens and ranks the financial bids.

Minister of Energy and Mining Admir Šahmanović said the competitive bidding process is in the public interest: for the security of supply, opening the way for investments in other sectors and for investor confidence. He told the Mina-business news agency that the auction would bring more stable prices in the long run.

Conducting renewable electricity auctions is one of the commitments toward the European Union that were defined by the Reform Agenda of Montenegro 2024-2027. It contains the conditions for the approval of up to EUR 383 million from the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and the Reform and Growth Facility (RGF).

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July 15, 2025
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China-based Envision opens world’s largest green hydrogen, ammonia plant

Green technology developer Envision Energy has commissioned the world’s largest and most advanced green hydrogen and ammonia plant. The Shanghai-based company said the production facility, developed in its hydrogen park in Chifeng, China, is also the first in the world delivering green ammonia at industrial scale and the first of its kind to be fully AI-enabled.

The plant can deliver 320,000 tons of green ammonia annually, with exports set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, Envision said, adding that the facility represents a major leap forward in industrial decarbonization. By 2028, the output is projected to rise to 1.5 million tons a year.

Green ammonia output is expected to rise to 1.5 million tons a year by 2028

The project, powered by Envision’s proprietary off-grid renewable energy system, applies innovative energy storage and load flexibility. Surplus green power is stored in the form of liquid nitrogen, and electrolyzers intelligently respond to renewable power swings, dynamically optimizing energy absorption and ammonia production.

By leveraging green ammonia as a stable transportation and storage medium, Envision has unlocked a practical path to scaling hydrogen across heavy industries, reads the press release.

Zhang Lei, Envision’s founder and CEO, noted that scalable, green alternatives are now real and operational, adding that the world cannot reach net zero without green hydrogen.

The first offtake deal is accelerating green ammonia adoption in fertilizer production, chemicals, and shipping

Envision’s project has already concluded a long-term offtake agreement with Marubeni Corporation, one of Japan’s largest trading houses, which will accelerate green ammonia adoption in sectors including fertilizers, chemicals, and shipping.

The company announced that its Chifeng Hydrogen Net Zero Industrial Park is officially the world’s first green ammonia facility to receive the ISCC PLUS certification for green ammonia with a verified greenhouse gas footprint. Envision also noted that its plant has a replicable design that can be quickly deployed globally.

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July 15, 2025
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Ex-Yugoslav hydrogen scientists call for funding research with real-world applications

A team of scientists from Slovenia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina is working on a hydrogen project based on seawater electrolysis. Dalibor Karačić, Nejc Hodnik, Igor Pašti, and Sanjin Gutić believe their research can deliver a solution fit for commercial use, unlike many hydrogen technologies in development around the world. To unlock the sector’s potential, hydrogen funding schemes must shift the focus from complex and “elegant” solutions to those that can be applied outside the lab, according to the scientists.

Investment in hydrogen technologies worldwide exceeded USD 200 billion in 2023, but most of the research might never produce scalable solutions due to over-complexity and impracticability, according to the four scientists.

Investment in hydrogen research exceeded USD 200 billion in 2023

Karačić, Hodnik, Pašti, and Gutić are working on a NATO-funded project that integrates membrane technology with seawater electrolysis. They claim they are not chasing novelty but “building something that can leave the lab.”

In theory, producing one kilogram of hydrogen requires nine liters of water, and even more in fossil-based hydrogen extraction. On the other hand, their research is based on the assumption that electrolysis from seawater and even wastewater could deliver hydrogen with lower water intensity and without ultrapure inputs, offering significant infrastructure savings.

This is especially relevant for countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which lack industrial hydrogen infrastructure but possess abundant natural water sources and technical talent, they claim.

Karačić: Balkan countries lack the political will to implement hydrogen solutions

Dalibor Karačić, lead researcher for energy conversion and storage systems at Sarajevo’s Center for Advanced Technologies (CNT), believes that the group’s project can deliver, but warns the region lacks the political will to implement the solution.

“We can deliver, but I don’t know who’s willing to receive it. Political will is lagging behind technical capability,” Karačić said in an interview with Energy News.

Some hydrogen uses do not require expensive high-pressure storage

When it comes to the issue of storage, Igor Pašti, Professor of Electrochemistry at the Faculty of Physical Chemistry of the University of Belgrade, claims that some industrial applications of hydrogen, such as ammonia production or steel processing, do not require expensive high-pressure storage. Tanks at 200 bars can hold hydrogen safely for two years, he explains.

One of the most cited barriers to turning lab success into industrial viability is the fact that many catalyst systems used in lab settings rely on rare metals or unrealistic environmental conditions. According to Nejc Hodnik, Head of Laboratory for Electrocatalysis at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 99% of existing research cannot be scaled because either the material is too unstable or the process cannot work outside the laboratory.

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July 15, 2025
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Serbia’s EPS starts trial operation of its Petka PV plant on coal tailings dump

Serbian state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije, EPS, connected its first larger photovoltaic unit to the grid. The new solar power plant is called Petka and it has a 10 MW grid connection. It is located in the Kostolac coal mining complex east of Belgrade, next to a wind park that is nearing completion. Each new megawatt is important, according to Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović and the company’s Chief Executive Officer Dušan Živković.

After many years of planning and launching numerous solar power projects, EPS launched the trial operation of its first larger facility of the kind. The Petka PV system has 10 MW in connection capacity. It is located on a former tailings dump of the Ćirikovac open pit coal mine in the Kostolac complex.

“It is another important pioneering milestone in our energy sector. We are now producing clean, green energy on the site of an old mining dump, which is a turning point and the beginning of the energy transition of Elektroprivreda Srbije and an example how we can use old energy for new energy,” Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović stated.

Of note, EPS recently installed solar panels of 948 kW total on the buildings within the Termoelektrana Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) coal power plant and of TENT’s rail transportation arm. Another photovoltaic system is on the Lazići dam in Zaovine, belonging to the state-owned utility’s Bajina Bašta hydropower plant.

EPS to connect adjacent wind park Kostolac to grid next month

There are no big or small projects, as every megawatt is important for Serbia’s energy security and it means greater security, Đedović Handanović pointed out.

“In addition to the Petka solar power plant, wind generators of EPS’s first wind park stand tall today in the mining area. They are also built mainly on recultivated tailings dumps. We expect the connection to the grid in August and a testing phase, when the blades will start spinning. That way we will strengthen our electricity system here in Kostolac by 76 MW of green energy,” the minister said.

The ministry’s priorities are the projects for the Bistrica pumped storage hydropower plant and battery-backed solar power plants of 1 GW in total connection capacity

She recalled that the strategic goal of the Government of Serbia is defined by the Energy Development Strategy, to reach a 45% share of renewable energy sources by 2030.

“We have much more to do and put in maximum efforts, because ahead of us are strategic projects which will change Serbia’s electricity bloodflow to a significant extent. They primarily entail the construction of the Bistrica pumped storage hydropower plant and the project for solar power plants of 1 GW with battery storage units. Energy investments necessary in the next ten years are estimated at about EUR 14 billion. Therefore, we must make up for all the delays and be up to the task, to secure energy tranquility for the future generations”, Đedović Handanović added.

EPS continuing with other green projects in its coal mining areas

EPS’s Chief Executive Officer Dušan Živković said each new megawatt is important for the company and the electricity system, especially in tropical days, when electricity demand is getting higher and higher.

“Not only are we strengthening our green portfolio that way, but also the reliability of the entire energy system, while citizens and companies have a secure supply, the same as until now. Projects like this one are concrete steps toward decarbonization and a sustainable energy development, which are also our goals for the decades to come. We will continue with the similar projects both here in Kostolac and also at dumping and landfilling sites in other parts of EPS,” he asserted.

Petka is one of the first PV facilities in the Western Balkans on former coal exploitation locations.

In addition, the construction of the Kostolac B3 coal plant in the same complex was finished last year. It was EPS’s first big energy production system in more than three decades.

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July 15, 2025
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Impact Report 2024: GGF grows direct lending, committed to energy transition, energy security

In its Impact Report 2024, the Green for Growth Fund outlined how it powers the green transition across Southeast Europe, the Caucasus and beyond – from repurposing coal sites and decarbonizing industries to strengthening energy security and building climate resilience. It ended last year with EUR 1.09 billion in assets under management and an outstanding investment portfolio of EUR 1.03 billion.

Luxembourg-based GGF has become one of the largest green blended-finance funds. It marked its 15th anniversary in 2024 by passing the EUR 1 billion mark in its portfolio.

“To date, we have delivered over EUR 2 billion in green finance through 70+ active financial institutions, companies, and infrastructure projects. This is impact on a systematic level and reflects the dedication of our partners, teams, and investors. We delivered many landmark projects as we continue to grow our direct lending,” the fund said in its 2024 Impact Report: Breaking the billion for lasting green impact.

GGF highlighted its role in transforming legacy energy systems into clean energy sites in North Macedonia. “We are also investing in corporate decarbonization across resource-intensive sectors in Turkey, including the country’s second-largest retail chain. Working with our financial institution partners, Ukraine’s energy security – and the security of the wider region – remains our focus,” the update reads.

Driving the energy transition and strengthening energy security is an urgent task, the fund said and stressed that its commitment remains strong. It ended 2024 with EUR 1.09 billion in assets under management and an outstanding investment portfolio of EUR 1.03 billion.

Energy-intensive sectors in region can decarbonize

The cumulative volume invested in partner lending institutions has reached EUR 2 billion. GGF is active in 18 countries.

“Passing the EUR 1 billion mark brings greater responsibility. We must continue to show the world that energy-intensive sectors in the region can decarbonize and renewables can lead to energy stability and security,” Chairperson of the Board of Directors Simon Gupta stated.

Headline figures include 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emission savings per year, which is the equivalent of taking 949,000 cars off the road. GGF supported 1.76 GW of renewable energy capacity through 2024, which is a whopping 36.4% more than one year before. Its activity resulted in 2.16 million cubic meters of water saved or treated per annum, which translates to 865 swimming pools.

GGF strategically manages impact through supporting measures that mitigate climate change and promote sustainable economic growth in Southeast Europe including Turkey, the European Eastern Neighborhood Region, and the Middle East and North Africa.

From coal pit to solar plant

Recognizing the need for energy independence, the Western Balkans are prioritizing projects that support the green energy transition, GGF pointed out.

“But financing is essential to help countries shift to domestic and clean renewable power. We arranged EUR 25.7 million in project financing for a 50 MW solar power generation project on the site of the former Oslomej coal mine in Kičevo, North Macedonia,” it added.

GGF arranged a EUR 25.7 million package for a PV plant on former coal mining land in the REK Oslomej complex in North Macedonia

The region’s reliance on legacy coal-fired power plants has resulted in outages, shortfalls, closures and volatile energy costs, GGF warned. “Governments recognize this and are increasingly prioritizing sustainable power projects aimed at reducing fossil fuel imports, lowering costs and stabilizing energy supply. To fulfill this ambitious agenda, they need support,” the fund stressed.

Oslomej is GGF’s second project finance transaction in North Macedonia, following its investment as a minority shareholder in the 36 MW Bogoslovec wind farm in 2021.

“Our investment in the Oslomej solar project underscores our commitment to North Macedonia’s green energy transition. By reducing reliance on fossil fuels and enhancing energy security, this project aligns with our mission to mitigate climate change and promote sustainable energy solutions,” said Fund Director for GGF at Finance in Motion Borislav Kostadinov.

Of note, he was one of the keynote speakers at this year’s edition of Belgrade Energy Forum (BEF 2025), organized by Balkan Green Energy News. Finance in Motion is GGF’s advisor.

Future-proofing Turkish businesses

The fund provided USD 26 million to Sanko Tekstil, one of the largest yarn producers in Turkey. It financed the full cost of a 20 MW rooftop photovoltaic system and partially covered the construction of a fiber recycling facility in Gaziantep.

Meanwhile, a USD 18 million investment into A101, the country’s second-largest retail chain, is decarbonizing store operations across 81 cities via a large-scale solar installation. It supported a 30 MW solar power project, expected to meet 10% of the company’s electricity needs.

Embedding sustainability

GGF complements its financing with advisory and capacity-building services, and risk-management support. It includes environmental and social due diligence, as well as monitoring, to keep projects aligned with international best practices.

The advisory and capacity-building activities in 2024 focused on embedding sustainability and advancing green finance across partner institutions.

A key highlight was the completion of four Deep Greening Mainstreaming projects, which supported financial institutions in developing strategies in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sector, green products, and internal sustainability structures.

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