MetaWealth, the European real asset investment platform, signed the purchase agreement on November 4th for the third project in its Romanian battery energy storage (BESS) program, a standalone 50 MW / 100 MWh system located in Dolj County. Total investment in the new project is estimated at approximately €20 million. Together with the Dumbrava and Sânpaul projects, the portfolio reaches 148 MW / 300 MWh, with all three projects due to start commercial operation in 2027.
The new project comes less than three months after MetaWealth secured, in August, a €19 million financing package for Dumbrava, the program’s first project. The package includes a seven-year senior credit facility of approximately €10 million from CEC Bank. The Dumbrava project, already under construction, is scheduled to reach commercial operation in Q2 2027. At Sânpaul, construction starts in Q1 2027, with commercial operation planned for Q3 2027. With the Dolj project, the program reaches Oltenia, after Moldavia and Transylvania.
The Dolj project is ready to build. The land has been secured, the technical grid connection approval has been issued and the building permit has been obtained. The site is close to a grid node, which reduces connection costs and risks. Construction is scheduled to start in Q2 2027, with commercial operation expected in Q3 2027. MetaWealth’s model is based on acquiring projects that already hold the necessary permits and can move straight into construction.
The three projects will come online in a critical year for the energy system. Unit 1 of the Cernavodă nuclear power plant, which supplies around 10% of the country’s electricity generation, is due to be taken offline in 2027 for a 32-month refurbishment, according to Nuclearelectrica. The adequacy study prepared for Transelectrica shows that, under the reference scenario, the adequacy standard required of the system could not be met in 2027, with most critical situations occurring in winter, at times of peak demand.
Storage facilities absorb electricity when generation exceeds demand, for example at midday, when solar output is high, and release it during peak hours. At the beginning of October, Romania’s installed storage capacity was about 2.31 GWh. For 2027, the same adequacy study estimates a need for approximately 6000 MWh of battery storage.
“In August, our 100 MWh Dumbrava project reached financial close with CEC Bank. Less than three months later, we have three projects in three regions of the country, all scheduled to reach commercial operation in 2027,” said Michael Topolinski, Founder & CEO of MetaWealth. “Investor demand for bonds financing our battery storage projects has been very strong. For 2028, our goal is to achieve commercial operation for an additional 500 MWh. We are building a platform designed to grow over the long term, in an energy system that needs storage capacity.”
At Dumbrava, Parapet Group is working on site. Equipment deliveries are under way: the main transformer, the power conversion systems (PCS) and the medium-voltage (MV) skids are already at the Port of Constanța, and the batteries are due to arrive there between 20th of November and 4th of December.
In parallel, MetaWealth has launched a divestment process for the Dumbrava project which will run up to the project’s Commercial Operation Date in Q2 2027. To date, six offers have been received and over a dozen interested parties are in the process, including large renewable energy funds, European energy companies and internationally listed investors. The divestment is part of the program’s model: the first three projects are developed through to commercial operation and sold to realise the development margin, while subsequent projects will remain in MetaWealth’s portfolio for energy arbitrage and long-term trading.
