Early Warning System

Regions

Europe and Central Asia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

Bulgaria
Lithuania
Romania

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Proposed

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

May 1, 2024

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Eldrive Holding GmbH (Renalfa Solarpro Group)

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Energy
Infrastructure
Transport

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Equity

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 16.29 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 15
Converted using 2024-03-19 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 103.19 million

Media Documents

Other Related Projects

EIB-20220550 ELDRIVE - CHARGING STATION NETWORK (IEU GT)

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Mar 25, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Mar 19, 2024

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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the EBRD, the project consists of the provision of financing in the form of an equity investment of up to EUR 15 million in Eldrive Holding GmbH, a limited liability company incorporated in Austria. The EBRD's investment aims to support the Company's expansion of electric vehicle charging stations in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania. EBRD will invest alongside Renalfa Solarpro Group, the current owner of Eldrive. In addition, the Company has secured a EUR 40 million venture debt facility from the European Investment Bank.

The objective of the project is to develop EV charging stations in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania aiming to increase the availability of EV charging stations, accelerate the uptake of EV, and support the electrification and decarbonisation of transport in the countries of investment.

The Project intends to develop over 8,000 EV charging stations in the Project's countries in the next several years. Eldrive has a current network of over 1,000 EV charging points and is expected to be able to leverage its experience when identifying new sites in Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania to build an efficient network supporting green mobility across these countries.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

People Affected By This Project

People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Private Actor Relationship

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Private Actors Description

As stated by the EBRD, Eldrive is a leading regional EV charging point operator and e-mobility services provider in south-eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

The company is owned by Renalfa Solarpro Group. As stated on the company's LinkedIn profile, Renalfa Solarpro Group GmbH is a Vienna based clean energy and e-mobility investment group with a focus on renewable energy generation assets. The Group currently has around 3 GW under construction and development in Bulgaria, as well as around 200 MW of operating assets in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Renalfa is an established platform with strong business model capabilities, working across the full solar PV and wind value chains from project origination to asset operation.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	Renalfa Solarpro Group GmbH	Investor	Energy
Renalfa Solarpro Group GmbH	Parent Company	Energy	owns	Eldrive Holding GmbH	Client	Transport

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Client - Eldrive Holding GmbH:

Stefan Spassov
Email: office@eldrive.eu
Phone: +359 2 419 3476
Website: https://eldrive.eu/
Address: 11-13 Yunak Str., floor 4, 1612, Sofia City, Bulgaria

Parent Company - Renalfa Solarpro Group GmbH:

Address: 16 Schottenring, Vienna, 1010, Austria
Phone: +43 6642169769
Email: media@renalfa.com
Website: https://renalfa.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html