China invests in wind power in Romania

‘A delegation of wind energy exploitation experts will come to Romania this month to take the first necessary steps in order to make investments in this field. The companies are backed by the Chinese Development Bank which is to finance the projects,’ said the Chinese Consul. He also added that the projects on building the wind farms are at the feasibility study phase at present.

‘We want to jointly develop projects with Romania and in Tulcea, why not’ pointed out the Chinese Consul. Tulcea is among the counties considered to possess the highest potential for wind power, and Romanian as well as foreign companies are in the process of submitting applications in order to carry out 70 wind farms with 1,703 wind turbines.

The value of projects for the construction in Romania of wind power systems generating electricity has reached 1.5 billion euro so far this year.

There are 22 wind turbines currently operating in Romania which commissioning was made on investments of 50 million euros. In 2007, the 22 wind turbines generated 4,947 MWh of wind power, less than 1 percent of the electrify consumption nationwide.

The newly unveiled wind farm projects are for an installed capacity of some 2,200 MWh. The wind power facilities are expected to cover approximately 10 percent of the current electricity consumption in Romania.

If all the investment projects are carried through by 2010, Romania will have exceeded its 3.7 TWh wind power electricity generating quota to which it committed during accession talks with the European Union.

In 2008, Cyprus’ CWP company will invest 1 billion euro in building a wind power area in the eastern province of Dobrogea with an installed capacity of 335 MW. The project comprises two locations – at Fantanele de Sud (85 MW) and Fantanele de Vest (250 MW) – and it has been submitted for approval to the National Energy Regulatory Authority.

EGL Power&Gas, the local subsidiary of Austrian EGL, has built a budget of some 200 million euros to be invested in renewable energy projects, particularly wind power, while UPC Romenergy Investment, a member of the US UPC Renewables trust, is contemplating a project for the commissioning of a 70-MW wind power facility in which to invest some 100 million euros. The company has started taking measurements, and construction on the facility should begin somewhere in the following three years.

Spanish group of companies Iberdola, one of Europe’s energy giants, has prepared 50 wind power projects for eastern Romania, which will add up to the projects already unveiled by Italy’s Enel for wind power facilities to generate 200 MW of electricity in Dobrogea as from 2010.

E.ON has started off a project for the construction of three wind mills in the eastern province of Moldavia with a total capacity below 10 MW, while Eviva Nalbant, a subsidiary of Portuguese Martifer, has taken a 260-ha land under lease to build wind power facilities that will generate 400 MW of electricity under a project to be finalised in 2012.

The largest area with wind turbines in Romania will be in the central county of Cluj, where turbines will start spinning in 2009 at Marisel, 50 km from the county seat of Cluj Napoca.

LC Business SRL is intending to invest nearly 10 million euros in building a 9MW wind power station at Oravita, Caras Severin County, a project that will be 30 percent covered by European grants, LC Business General Manager Lucian Perescu told daily Romania libera.

‘The wind farm should be up and running this October. We have won all the necessary approvals. It took us two years to get all the papers requested,’ said Perescu. The station will have six turbines of 1.5W each. The company has scheduled an open tender for April 23 for the acquisition and installation of the six wind turbines.

The company’s officials have budgeted nearly RON 28 million, VAT excluded, for the turbines. Any interested bidder should set aside a RON 560.000 participation bond and a good execution bond of 10 percent of the contract’s value, VAT excluded. LC Business SRL of Timisoara was established in 2008. Its general manager Lucian Perescu is eyeing more projects for the future in the areas of electricity generation using renewable sources, particularly water and sun.

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