”We are delighted with these remarkable achievements, a sign that the Bank remains an important investor in the Romanian economy through its continued presence in Romania. The EBRD has a mandate to support private sector development. In Romania, the share of private sector investments was 83%, well above the average of 76% of private sector investments in all EBRD regions,” said EBRD Country Director for Romania Victoria Zinchuk.
Private sector transactions included a €40 million risk-sharing agreement with Banca Transilvania for Omnia Europe SA, the launch of a €10 million financing program for local suppliers of Profi Rom Food SRL, a €10 million equity investment in La Cocos, an equity investment in AROBS Transilvania Software SA, and other loan and equity financing transactions completed during the year.
In the municipal sector, the Bank contributed €75 million to regional projects. These included co-financing alongside the EU for water and sewerage investments in four counties (Bacău, Constanța, Iași and Brăila), as well as energy efficiency projects for buildings in Craiova Municipality under the EBRD's Green Cities Program.
But Romania's growing ambition to implement EU green programs such as Fit for 55 and REPowerEU - which aim for 38% of the country's final energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030 - has unlocked significant additional investment in 2024. The EBRD is supporting Romania in achieving this goal, both by providing financing for viable green investments and by providing support to the Romanian authorities to implement policies that support stronger private sector participation in green energy investments.
By 2024, the EBRD has financed almost 1GW of renewable energy capacity in Romania. These investments, amounting to more than €180 million of own funds, mobilized an additional almost €1 billion of private and public financing.
Transactions in the energy sector include the €46 million financing for the Urleasca wind farm, the acquisition of a stake in the regional energy company Premier Energy and the €15 million to regional renewable energy producer Photon Energy. The EBRD also provided €32 million to finance the Vifor onshore wind power project, the equivalent in lei of €100 million for the modernization of electricity distribution networks and a €12.2 million construction bridge financing to the Danube Solar Five for photovoltaic power plants in Dolj County. In addition, the EBRD provided half of a €110 million financing package for solar power plants in Iepurești and Ghimpați.
To address volatile energy prices, the EBRD supported the development and implementation of a renewable energy auction program based on Contracts for Difference (CfDs), with the first auction for up to 1.5GW successfully awarded in 2024. A Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Energy was signed in December 2024 on the implementation of the second CfD auction for Renewable Energy Sources (RES), the development of the storage support schemes and auctions, and the implementation of the necessary reforms to integrate storage capacities into energy markets.
Financing the green economy accounted for 74% of the Bank's total investment volume in Romania in 2024, exceeding the 58% share across all EBRD regions. Projects signed in 2024 in Romania are estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 750,000 tons per year.
These results in Romania contribute to a record year for the EBRD globally. The Bank, active in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, saw total investments increase to €16.6 billion in 2024, up 26% from the previous record of €13.1 billion in 2023.
