Dentons advises UniCredit on financing for SMEGSolar’s BESS

Budapest-Dentons' Budapest office has advised UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt. on a €35.79 million financing to SMEGSolar Ltd., a member of the STS Group, to support the development, construction and operation of a large-scale battery energy storage project in Hungary. The pioneering investment represents a significant milestone in the transformation of Hungary's energy system and will help in several respects.

SMEGSolar's Electricity Storage Installation Project is being implemented at two locations, near Balatonberény and Tereske. The facilities will provide a combined nominal installed capacity of 21.0 MW and a total energy storage capacity of 84.0 MWh. Construction is in progress at both sites, with completion scheduled for the end of April 2026. Both projects are supported by the "METÁROLÓ" subsidy provided by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The transaction stands out as one of the most complex BESS financings to date in Hungary. As one of the country's first co-located projects- where battery energy storage systems (BESS) are connected to the grid at the same connection point as existing photovoltaic (PV) plants - it had to be executed by the investor without any established market practice. The complexity was heightened by the fact that the PV SPV and the storage SPV belong to different developer groups and, at one site, the PV and storage assets were financed by different banks. To address these challenges, Dentons provided Unicredit with full-scope legal due diligence and bespoke structural financing solutions.

Partners Eszter Zádori and Edina Schweizer led the multi-competency legal team, with support from senior associate Rita Várnagy and junior associates Ádám Breckó and Bálint Szabó. Senior associate Gabriella Pataki advised on the financing, while senior associate Henriett Fekete performed the due diligence.

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