Restart Energy bolsters its market position with a 360-degree approach

Restart Energy’s success is deeply rooted in its DNA, reflecting a blend of innovation, resilience, and a steadfast commitment to customer satisfaction. Business Review talked to Armand Domuta, the CEO of Restart Energy, and gained insight into the company’s operating principles and the actions that led to its strong growth in 2023.

By Anda Sebesi

What is your leadership style and how does it support your company’s performance?

I rely heavily on the team and try to carry out a collaborative, dynamic management focused on the ultimate benefits of implementing our projects. Empowerment is about trusting your team to manage their tasks, solve problems, and set their priorities. Every project at Restart Energy starts with the question “Why would the client choose us?”. We always try to look at things from the client’s point of view. I believe it is precisely this culture that has helped me build such a great team that has resonated with the core values of Restart Energy: customer centricity, transparency, strong ethics, and innovation.

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Restart Energy has completed two photovoltaic projects for Aquaserv, totaling more than €600,000

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What were your main professional achievements in 2023?

Business clients understood the importance of price predictability, energy independence, and efficiency and our EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) division grew substantially during 2023. To date, we have deployed over 120 EPC or Utility Scale PV parks and we are working in parallel to develop new business lines across verticals. Each year has been marked by firsts—whether it was giving up gas supply and developing the solar renewable energy division or launching the RED platform and RED standard on a market that was not yet properly regulated, we have done it assertively, positioning ourselves appropriately for a “first to market.” In 2023 we invested in a horizontal business line designed to elevate our solar solutions through streamlined quality control and affordable prices by owning our own solar panel brand. First and foremost, we advise our partners, regardless of the size of their business, and provide them with optimal solutions. We also understand—perhaps better than multinational businesses—the need for flexibility that’s specific to the Romanian market and we try to minimise the time wasted on bureaucracy. At the core of the company are people with many years of experience and strong expertise in everything from electrical and thermal engineering and power generation, operation, and maintenance to forecasting and balancing or financing, supply, and trading. This comprehensive, 360-degree understanding of how all components of the market work and fit together enables us to offer complete and integrated solutions to our clients.

What were the biggest challenges your business sector faced last year and how did you navigate them?

2023 was a year of resilience, one during which the energy market was heavily impacted by the regional conflict. The unstable fiscal climate and repeated delays in the first part of the year on the funding front also affected contractors at all levels. Despite these issues, starting with the second half of the year Romania has managed to set a rapid pace to this transition, while entrepreneurs have understood that investing in renewable solar energy brings them stability and price predictability.

In the first six months of 2023, we continued the company’s development process according to the strategy that had been defined by the management team at the beginning of 2022. Our work focused on operational reorganisation with the growth of the EPC division. From a strategic point of view, we have redrawn our internal flows so that we could maintain the pace of growth while controlling costs and maintaining high customer satisfaction.

Goals for 2024:

• Launching a dedicated end-user marketplace with financing solutions and turnkey installation solutions, where consumers will be able to purchase the Restart Energy photovoltaic kits their projects require.
• Developing the EPC division and supporting the transition to renewable energy.
• Consolidating our position as a front runner in energy transition services.
• Financial closing for the 500 MW PV Project the company is developing in Western Romania, which already obtained the grid connection permit in 2023.