Repower gives up CHF 200 million investments in Romania

Private power supplier Repower Furnizare Romania, the local subsidiary of Swiss-held Repower group, gave up investment exceeding CHF 200 millionin Romania, in renewable energy production units, due to the amendments to the renewable energy legislation.

“Romania is the fourth key market, after Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Unfortunately, the budget for 2020, as defined by the Board of Directors, is used to build market capacities in Romania. I really wanted and I conducted purchasing activities, identifying potential production units, but fortunately for us, upon completion of due diligence procedures and issue a binding offer, significant changes have occurred in legislation and due to them we are in a stand-by position. We wanted to invest in the renewable energy sector, including hydro design capacities of 5 to 10 MW. But due to the amendments to the legislative framework we had to stop,” said Dan Dragoş Drăgan, CEO Repower Furnizare Romania.

The total installed capacity in Romania until 2020 would have reached around 100 MW in various technologies and the total investment was originally estimated at over CHF 200 million, according to Dragan.

Company officials said that the company will focus on energy retail this year: “Repower will develop, mainly in the area of energy retail, by proposing new solutions to facilitate access and improve the consumer experience in terms of the company products. Current service portfolio includes thermography inspections of electronic installations, as well as analyzes for clients to check the electric charge and to detect any fault”.

Repower’s key markets are Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Romania. The group operates along the entire electricity value chain from generation and trading to sales and distribution.

Repower is one of the four largest non-state energy utilities in Romania, working for small and medium-sized business customers consuming between 0.5 and 20 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. Repower’s share of this segment is a good five per cent. In 2013, the company marketed more than 1.3 terawatt hours of electricity in Romania.

Laura Grigore