Aukera Energy has obtained a €60 million debt facility from Kommunalkredit Austria AG to support construction of a 250MW/500MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Gura Ialomiței, Romania, the company said on Monday.
Phase 1 of the project is under construction and the full installation is expected to be operational by mid-2026. Kommunalkredit acted as the sole mandated lead arranger.
Aiden Yates, Aukera’s managing director for project finance, said the deal marks a milestone for the company and for Romania’s storage sector. “We are very pleased to partner with Kommunalkredit on this landmark transaction for Aukera and for the Romanian storage market,” he said.
Yates said BESS facilities are “playing an increasingly vital role in providing the flexibility and reliability needed to balance supply and demand in a rapidly evolving generation mix, stabilizing grid frequency, and ensuring consistent power delivery.” He added that the financing “brings together our market-leading local and international expertise across the platform to deliver the first project in our 2GW Romanian BESS pipeline.”
“It demonstrates our ability to deliver large, complex projects across multiple markets, as we expand our European generation and storage platform,” he said.
Arnaud de Laportaliere, senior transactor at Kommunalkredit, said the project “marks a decisive step toward strengthening Romania’s energy resilience” and that by supporting Aukera’s first battery storage initiative, the lender is “helping to substantially improve grid stability.”
Bozkurt Aydinoglu, Aukera’s head of storage, said the company is applying experience from the UK market to Romania, noting: “Our storage team has been at the forefront of the UK market since its earliest days — developing, designing, delivering, and operating projects that helped establish the standards now shaping Europe’s energy storage industry.”
He said the firm aims to deliver systems that address “real, current system needs — improving grid stability and increasing the utilisation of renewable generation and the transmission network.” He added that optimised delivery from BESS “helps lower overall system costs, ultimately benefiting end consumers through more efficient and affordable electricity.”
Aukera said Akereos Capital served as financial adviser, Clifford Chance Badea as borrower legal adviser, Dentons as lender legal adviser and Rina Consulting as lender technical adviser.
