STEAG will invest around 200 million Euro in this wind farm, which will have 36 wind turbines of 3MW supplied by Vestas. Crucea North will evacuate the electricity to a new transformer station in nearby Stupina, which will connect to the 400kV Transelectrica high voltage national grid. The new transformer station will make it easier for further wind farms in the area to be connected to the high voltage national grid.
“STEAG has been active in Romania for ten years as project developer and engineering service provider. With the Crucea North project we extend our know-how in the field of wind energy,” explains Daniel Vosswinkel, who is also responsible atSTEAG GmbH for the development of major renewable energy projects.
The project is envisaged to be operational by the end of next year and to create indirectly around 100 new jobs. Once the construction of Crucea North has been completed, it will produce clean electricity for approximately 200,000 Romanian households and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 300,000 tons per year.
“Monsson Group as seller and developer is pleased to have completed this transaction with STEAG, Germany’s fifth largest electricity generator. We believe Romania shows that it has become an attractive investment destination following the recent implementation of detailed renewable energy legislation in line with EU directives and given its naturally abundant wind resources,” declared Andrei Muntmark, Commercial Director of Monsson Group.
The Crucea North project, situated in the Dobrogea area some 50 km North-West of the port of Constanta, will form part of a larger wind farm complex with total capacity of at least 600 MW. Romania has committed to producing 38% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020 as its contribution to the EU-wide limitation of CO2 emissions.
STEAG has been involved in energy generation for almost 75 years. The Group’s generating capacities are based on both fossil and – since more than a decade – renewable sources of energy like bioenergy, geothermal energy, wind energy and solar thermal energy. In 2011, STEAG generated sales of EUR 3.1 billion and an EBITDA of EUR 491 million with a workforce of some 5,800 employees. O
ne of Germany’s largest electricity producers, STEAG operates eleven power stations and more than two hundred distributed facilities to generate energy from renewable sources and supply power and heat on a contracting basis to industrial and other customers. The total installed capacity is around 9,400 megawatts (MW) worldwide, including around 7,700 MW in Germany and three power plants in Colombia, Turkey and the Philippines. Based on many years of experience in the power, coal and CO2 sectors, STEAG offers a broad portfolio of products and services in energy trading.
Established in 1997, Monsson Group has focused on renewable energy since 2004 and became a major wind farm developer country wide with more than 2.4 GW projects in its portfolio, out of which 850 MW have already been sold to CEZ, OMV Petrom, ButanGas and STEAG. Monsson Group successfully developed and sold to CEZ the largest onshore wind farm outside USA, Fantanele and Cogealac wind farm of 600 MW, out of which 400 MW are already in operation and expected to be completed in 2012.
With more than 150 specialized employees, Monsson offers a full range of services for wind farms in development, construction and operation. Monsson Group acts as an electricity trader on the Romanian and Hungarian markets and is also a power producer that in the next three years plans to increase its own capacity production up to 200 MW, being also interested in other alternative energy sources.
