Eolica Dobrogea administrator sues Transelectrica and ANRE for EUR 118 mln prejudice

Corneliu Dica, administrator of Swiss wind developer Eolica Dobrogea, has initiated legal actions against Romania’s energy regulator ANRE and grid operator Translectrica, for refusing to issue a grid connection permit for 600MW of wind power. Dica also sued Translectrica’s former general director Horia Hahainau and deputy general director Corneliu Ene. Translectrica noticed the Bucharest Stock Exchange today on the lawsuit.

Eolica wants to connect 600MW of wind power to transformer station Tariverde, Dobrogea area, and has been able to fulfill most of Transelectrica’s requests. As of February 17, the company had only small remaining condition for connection. However, Dica sued Transelectrica for refusing the connection and wants the grid operator executives to repay a prejudice estimated at EUR118 million/year.

Swiss based holding company Eolica Dobrogea Schweiz AG, which owns a 95 percent stake in Eolica Doborgea, said in a statement today it will replace the rogue administrator.

Last November, Transelectrica granted a grid connection permit (ATR) of 600MW for Eolica, taking the total capacity secured by the Swiss developer to 1200MW.

Spanish Iberdrola Renovables plans to build Dobrogea wind complex, combining 50 wind parks with installed capacity of 1,500MW. This large-scale project should finalize by 2017. Iberdrola will build and operate the wind farms, while Eolica Doborgea will handle the development segment of wind parks (planning and construction permits).

Iberdrola started last March to build the Mihai Viteazu wind farm of 80MW and expects to start test operations this April. As of mid-February, 25 from the total of 40 wind turbines had been installed. Building works have been delayed by the bad winter weather.

Ovidiu Posirca