Wind mills worth a total of around EUR680 million were installed in Romania, with a capacity of 520 MW, show data published by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). Wind farms attracted around EUR2 million daily in 2011, this being one of the hottest investment sectors at present.
In the autumn of 2008, when Romania seemed sheltered from the financial crisis, the-then prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said if the economic trends of the time were pursued, Romania could become the seventh-largest economic power of Europe.
Two years of recession followed, which did not, however, turn wind farm investors away, so Romania managed to become the seventh-largest country in the EU in 2011, but in terms of the size of new wind farms.
The 520 MW installed in wind farms last year in Romania accounts for 5% of the entire newly-installed capacity in all 27 EU countries, with 982 MW being operational at the end of 2011, able to give electricity to around one million households.
Data of the energy efficiency association reveal that last year the EU saw a total of 9,616 MW installed in wind farms worth EUR12.6 billion, which means projects worth around EUR680 million were conducted in Romania, considering an average price of around EUR1.3 million per each MW installed. Germany, the UK and Spain top the rankings.
Green energy boomed in the last few years, with investments in energy production capacities flowing in. Whereas at the end of 2009 there were only 14 MW installed on the local market, by the end of 2010, there were already 462 MW functioning, and at the end of last year the capacity of the wind mill farms reached 982 MW, as show AEEE data. So, in just two years’ time, the capacity of Romanian wind farms went up over 70 times, with overall investments amounting to around EUR1.3 billion.
Despite this growth, Romania has so far not attracted any investment in a wind turbine facility, with around 75% of a project’s value going to equipment importers, such as General Electric, Siemens, and Vestas, while the rest goes to road construction and electric work.
Starting in 2010, all the major European energy groups have tapped the Romanian market with significant investments. Czech-held CEZ started a EUR1.1 billion project in a 600-MW far, which is set to be completed this year. Other major investors include Italy’s Enel, Energias de Portugal, Iberdrola (Spain) and GDF Suez (French-Belgian group).
All these companies and their several billion-euro investment budgets were drawn to Romania by two factors: the good weather conditions for developing wind farms, especially in Dobrogea and Moldavia, and the scheme made available by the Romanian state for these projects, one of the most generous in Europe.
Last year, producers of renewable energy received EUR95 million through this scheme, and the amount is set to increase to EUR300 million in 2012.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)