Econergy fires up 141 MWh merchant BESS at operational solar site in Romania

Econergy has launched commercial operations for the fully merchant 70 MW / 141 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at its Părău 1 project in Brașov, Romania. The battery joins a 92 MW solar array that has been active since early 2024, bringing the site’s combined capacity to 162 MW across a 113-hectare footprint.

The €85 million project is fully owned by the developer and operates entirely on a merchant basis. The BESS features dedicated grid-import capacity, enabling the battery to charge directly from the grid during periods of low or negative pricing, as well as to capture clipped generation from the adjacent solar plant.

Operating a large battery on a purely merchant basis in Romania means little protection on revenues. But with the nation recently surpassing 1 GW of utility-scale battery capacity, charging from the grid to capitalize on negative pricing windows provides additional revenue that standalone solar doesn’t offer, hedging the asset.

Econergy, as a public company informing investors, provided a somewhat rare breakdown of the costs and revenues it expects for its UK firm that will indirectly 100% own the site.

It reported €21,343,000 in costs, it expects €9,742,000 in revenue from the storage, with EBITDA profit at €7,981,00, and FFO (Funds From Operations) at €6,320,000.

This implies, based on projects, just over a three-year return on capital outlay investment from FFO.

Wider BESS uptake

Econergy views Parau 1 as the technical and commercial template for its broader hybridization strategy. CEO Eyal Podhorzer noted that layering storage revenues onto an existing generation asset demonstrates the firm’s deliberate transition from developing renewables to operating them as an independent power producer.

The company currently has over 1 GWh of storage capacity under construction or ready for grid connection in Romania. The pipeline includes a planned 120 MW BESS at its flagship 155 MW Rătești solar project, and a 49 MW addition for its 87 MW Oradea project, which connected to the grid in August 2025. Further storage is earmarked for the 60 MW Ovidiu solar site, currently under construction.

Econergy is a key part of Romania’s storage boom, and last month, secured €229 million in EBRD-backed financing for its nearby Părău 2 project, pairing a 342 MW solar plant with a 150 MW battery system.