“In 1989 all three of us were working at RENEL Cluj. This was in fact my last job as an employee,” says Stefan Gadola, vicepresident of EnergoBit.
After the revolution of 1989, Gadola together with Ioan Socea and Peter Pal, who were first co-workers at RENEL and only later became friends, set up EnergoBit, one of the first privately-held companies in Cluj. The three continue to have equal shares in the company they created and are all vicepresidents. EnergoBit has no president.
“We were among the first companies to be set up in Cluj, in April 1990. When we started out, we never thought we would get here. We didn’t even dream of it. We wanted to do consulting.”
At first there were five, but two later left for personal reasons.
After the electric installations consulting phase and the phase of importing equipment, towards the end of the ’90s, EnergoBit made a new business decision: get involved in production.
“We chose to invest in Jibou [Salaj county]. All the money we had made until then, one million German Marks and a non-reimbursable loan of $100,000 we invested in a plant. We were the first to build transformer stations in Romania and it was a very good business. We had 80% of the market. We basically made boxes that you would install and then you had light.”
From then on, EnergoBit started to take part in auctions for works that involved all stages, from design to the operational stage, and in 2008 it ended up working with giants such as Czech-based CEZ on projects that are in fact European firsts, such as the 240-turbine windfarm that the group is building in two Dobrogea communes (SE Romania).
Wind projects have come to account for a significant portion of the EnergoBit business, with the company winning contracts with Petrom, ButanGas, Energias de Portugal Renovables and Verbund (Austria), companies which in turn have budgets of hundreds of millions of euros for wind energy projects.
According to the latest data, 20% of EnergoBit’s business estimated at EUR120 million this year will come from wind projects. But electric works will remain the core activity of the three Cluj businessmen.
“We are building a 27-MW windfarm in Tulcea, but I don’t think we will develop further in this direction. We are also interested in small-sized hydro-power stations.”
Apart from these investments, Gadola believes a business segment that will significantly grow over the coming period is that of ESCOs (companies that provide energy services). In wide terms, such companies deliver projects to beneficiaries. They handle the financing and the investments. They recoup their money from the bill savings made by beneficiaries after the implementation of the project. Considering that in Romania many communities face a liquidity shortage, such partnerships with ESCO companies can be a solution for certain investment segments. EnergoBit has just signed a EUR10 million contract with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“The contract we have recently signed with the EBRD is a dream come true. We basically provide the funding for the work, and the town hall for instance simply pays us the difference between what it used to pay for electricity and what it pays now,” says Gadola.
Although business is going well, with EnergoBit representatives expecting a 20% growth rate and appearing to have a new segment of growth, Gadola says if he were to turn back time, he doesn’t know if he would do the same.
(English version by Daniela Stoican, Editing by Radu Bostan)