Oil Company Petrom Opens Wind Energy Park

Oil and gas company Petrom, controlled by Austria's OMV, has started commercial operations at its wind energy park in eastern Romania, following an investment of about 90 million euros.

The wind park has an installed capacity of 45 megawatts.

In recent years, Romania has become a place of interest for investors interested in wind power. While at the end of 2009, the country’s installed wind power capacity was of 14 MW, it has jumped to almost 600 megawatts in just one year, according to official data.

Foreign investors entered the wind energy market in Romania as the Balkan country has made renewable energy a priority while trying to meet tough EU carbon emissions goals requiring 20 per cent of power generation to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Furthermore, permissive legislation and a system of subsidies from the EU, together with a market of almost 22 million people, have encouraged investors to turn to Romanian wind.

Czech power group CEZ, which is among the main investors in the Balkan country, signed a 200 million euro loan agreement with the European Investment Bank last year to co-finance a Romanian wind park.

CEZ is building a 347.5 MW wind park in Fantanele in southeastern Romania and plans to build another facility with more than 200 MW capacity in the area.

Other power companies operating in the country include Italy's Enel, Spain's Iberdrola and Energias de Portugal.

Romania's wind energy association estimates that 1,165 MW will be installed this year and in 2012, in different energy parks, worth about 2 billion euro .