Polish entrepreneurs invest in SGE's BWRX-300 projects

SGE, formerly Synthos Green Energy, signed an agreement last month with GE Vernova, Hitachi and Samsung C&T, to cooperate on the deployment of GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in Europe.

The first deployment of a BWRX-300 is taking place in Canada, with the first US construction permit issued for one there earlier this week. SGE is a co-investor in the development of the reactors.

SGE has a number of potential projects under way across Europe - including in Poland, where a decision in principle has been issued for 26 BWRX-300 SMRs, and in the UK where a proposal for a fleet of 14 of the SMRs across three sites is being considered under the UK's Advanced Nuclear Framework programme.

The newly-announced investors include Rafał Brzoska, CEO of InPost; Krzysztof Pawiński and Marta Pawińska from the Silesia House Family Foundation; Michał Wypychewicz, CEO of Koronea Family Office; Dariusz Gałęzewski and Dominik Doliński, co-founders and co-owners of OSHEE; Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, co-founders of ElevenLabs; Michał Brański, co-owner of Wirtualna Polska Holding; and Bruno Wejchert from Strike Capital.

SGE founder Michał Sołowow said: "For a project of this scale, the strongest validation is not a declaration or an expression of support, but a decision to commit your own capital. Polish entrepreneurs who have built major companies, compete globally and understand how fundamental access to reliable and competitively priced energy is for industry have decided to invest a total of PLN500 million in our SMR project. This is a very tangible signal that Polish business recognises the scale of the challenge facing our economy and wants to take part in building the infrastructure on which its competitiveness will depend for decades to come."

Sołowow also said SGE - which plans to privately finance the development of its nuclear projects using a contract for difference model to set guaranteed prices for the electricity they will generate - had secured PLN1.35 billion in equity commitments from international investors.

GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of the company's US Nuclear Regulatory Commission-certified ESBWR boiling water reactor design and its existing, licensed GNF2 fuel design, a unique combination that GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy says positions it to deliver an "innovative, carbon-free baseload power generation source" this decade.