Credit institutions have already signed financing agreements covering both smaller projects of around 8 MW and medium-scale parks in the 80–100 MW range. Most of these operate under Feed-in Premium schemes, where revenues are increasingly squeezed by curtailments and periods of zero or negative wholesale electricity prices.
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The financing model is based on restructuring existing project loans, allowing the original project finance agreement to incorporate repayment for the battery investment. Banks increasingly regard storage as essential for safeguarding the financial viability of photovoltaic assets. Executives say the decisive lending criterion is the extent to which the project's internal rate of return (IRR) improves once the battery is in place, with factors such as the project's tariff level and its years in operation playing a central role in that assessment.
Reducing ROI to three to four years
Discussions are also underway with major domestic energy groups to extend financing from individual solar parks to entire photovoltaic portfolios. Banks believe that batteries can significantly improve revenues by shifting electricity injection into higher-priced hours on the wholesale market, and current intraday price volatility is seen as especially favourable for early storage investments. According to banking estimates, growing storage penetration combined with continued solar expansion could shorten the payback period for behind-the-meter batteries to as little as three to four years.
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The option to add batteries applies to photovoltaic systems installed after 4 July 2019, in both distribution and transmission networks. Projects operating under Feed-in Premium schemes can retain their tariff if converted into 11A projects, which ensures that batteries are charged exclusively from the photovoltaic system. (Kostas Deligiannis/hcn)
First published on the energy portal energypress.gr
