Romania to add 617MW in wind this year, says report

Some 617MW of fresh wind capacities that are in different building stages will be installed this year, according to a new report on the wind energy and other renewable sources launched by professional services firm TPA Horwath and law firm Schoenherr si Asociatii.

The local wind installed capacities have soared by 94 percent to 1905MW last year, overshooting official estimates. The wind sector has attracted the largest share of investments in Romania, mainly due to foreign utilities in the likes of Austrian Verbund or Czech CEZ that build large farms locally.

Romania was the leading emerging country for new wind capacities, putting 923MW online. It came fifth across Europe, behind Germany (2415), the UK (1897), Italy (1973) ad Spain (1122MW).

However, the future of the sector remains uncertain following the governments decisions to reschedule the payment of some green certificates. Starting July1, wind projects will be granted one certificate and a second one will be recovered starting 2018.

Claudia Stanciu, partner at TPA Horwath, says renewable investors are still satisfied with the profits generated in Romania, despite the legal changes.

“The legal changes are justified. Although there is a lack of legal predictability, investors are generally satisfied, and remain profitable,” said Stanciu. She added that Romania is still attractive due to the incentives and the availability of grid connections.

The wind developers that will not have the resources to continue operations may sell the wind projects to players with a bigger financial clout, says Cristina Petrescu, partner TPA Horwath.

The price of green certificates, which account for 55 percent of the revenues of a wind farm, will go down as more renewable capacities go online, reckons Petrescu. At present, one green certificate is trading around EUR 37.

Given the current development of capacities, Romania will cover around 8 percent of its gross energy consumption from wind sources this year. Under the EU 2020 targets, the renewable output should reach 24 percent of the total electricity consumption.

The solar sector has been worst hit as authorities have rescheduled the issuance of two certificates. Authorities have also blocked the solar projects settled on agricultural land from receiving certificates.

Simona Chirica, partner at Schoenherr si Asociatii, says only a few solar investors still have their land in the agricultural circuit. She commented it’s a ‘mission impossible’ to get pull the land off circuit by July 1.

The RPIA (Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association) states that close to 400 hectares of agricultural land are currently covered by solar panels. Around 177MW of incentivized solar installations were operational by April, according to grid operator Transelectrica.

Ovidiu Posirca

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