A total of 559 companies had been approved by Romania’s energy market regulator ANRE for the green power subsidy scheme by December 31, 2013. The scheme has been the main development driver of the sector in the country.
There were 322 such companies in September 2013 compared with only 31 at the end of 2009.
These companies are mostly project companies established to develop clean energy investments and the increase in their number shows how much the sector has grown in the last few years.
According to the ANRE data, almost 4,350 MW of wind farms, solar parks and hydropower plants installed by 559 companies had been approved for subsidies via the green power support scheme by December 31, 2013. Out of the 559, 395 owned solar parks with a nameplate capacity of 1,158.2 MW, which required almost EUR1.8 billion investments.
Another 77 companies, such as Hidroelectrica, operate small hydropower plants of up to 10 MW of capacity. ANRE data show 73 companies operating wind farms with a capacity of almost 2,600 MW in which they had invested EUR3.9 billion, had been approved for the renewable energy support scheme by the end of 2013.
The green power support scheme was modified last year so only the companies approved for it by the end of 2013 will get the full subsidy in form of green certificates. As of January 1, 2014, any new company will get fewer certificates than before. Even so, ANRE is optimistic, expecting 1,060 MW (EUR1.6 billion investment) to be installed in solar parks and 537 MW in wind farms (EUR830 million investment) this year.
Romania should end 2014 with 6,000 MW of capacity installed in renewable power plants subject to the green power support scheme, four times the capacity of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)