Investments were mostly made by foreign companies by now. This is the first state-owned company that invests in this sector. Hidroelectrica or Complexul Energetic Oltenia are other energy producers that announced investments in the green energy sector.
“We want to build a cogeneration plant nearby Bucharest, including from European Union funds, which covers 40% to 50% of the investment estimated at EUR10 million,“ said Eduard Olteanu, general manager of Electrocentrale Grup. The cogeneration plant is scheduled to have 10 MW electric power and 10 MW thermal power. The financing would be ensured from bank loans as well as from 10% own sources of Electrocentrale Grup.
Currently, Electrocentrale Grup’s only assets are the solar park, for which it has an energy sale contract, and the electric power infrastructure.
The solar park of 1.7 megawatts (MW) was inaugurated early this year in Chiscani (Braila), following an investment of RON10.99 million (EUR2.4 million).
The investments in solar parks substantially grew during the financial crisis period, from almost one MW in 2009 to around 1.300 MW now, according to data released by Transelectrica in May. This boom was due to the support program granted by the Romanian government to attract investors, which was the most generous in Europe.
Electrocentrale Grup was founded in 2013, by splitting Termoelectrica, before undergoing dissolution/liquidation, in accordance with the commitments undertaken by Romania toward the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the European Commission.
Electrocentrale Grup posted revenue of RON2 million in 2014, almost two-fold lower from 2013, but switched to a net profit of RON625,000 from losses of RON63 million in 2013, according to the data on the Ministry of Finance’s website.
(English version by Manuela Panescu)