Renewables company Sunly raises €300m for hybrid renewable parks

The company currently has 230MW of operational solar parks, with a further 126MW under construction, as well as a 2MWh storage integrated into one solar park. It’s claimed the new funding will help accelerate the construction of 1.3GW of hybrid energy projects, with colocation of generation and storage a key part of Sunly’s strategy for keeping costs down. 

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Sunly said combining wind, solar and energy storage helps to improve energy production stability across various weather conditions and optimises cost-efficiency by reducing grid connectivity charges – forecasted to account to more than half of the total energy cost. The approach is expected to ‘significantly benefit consumers’, particularly large industrial clients with high energy consumption, by enhancing regional energy security and reducing reliance on Russian gas.

“This investment enables us to improve our infrastructure with new grid connections and solar parks in the Baltics, which will support our onshore wind and storage pipeline expansion,” said Priit Lepasepp, co-founder and CEO of Sunly.

“To help reduce energy costs, our focus will be on two key areas: building a hybrid pipeline with storage capabilities and advancing the electrification of heating and mobility systems, thereby diminishing our reliance on imported fossil fuels and optimising the use of local renewable resources.”

One of the first projects to benefit from the financing is the 244MW Risti solar park in Estonia, which can cover the annual electricity consumption of 55,000 households. Currently intended as a hybrid park, Sunly has expansion plans that include onshore wind turbines and battery storage.

Construction will also immediately start on four solar parks in Latvia, with a combined capacity of 553 MW. These Latvian parks are also designed as hybrids, with plans to integrate wind or battery storage, or a combination of both. The 1.3GW portfolio also includes several large hybrid solar parks in Lithuania, as well as small and large solar parks in Poland by end of 2026.