Romanian hydropower producer enters PV business with 45 MW ground-mounted project

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Romanian state-owned hydropower provider Hidroelectrica is seeking experts to conduct the feasibility study for a 45 MW ground-mounted PV project it wants to develop in Tudor Vladimirescu, in Brăila county, Muntenia, southern Romania, according to the website Licitatie-Publica.ro.

The project is the first solar power station planned by the company, which currently owns and operates 6.4 GW of hydropower assets across the country and is also planning to build both onshore and offshore wind power plants.

According to Romanian media outlet Profit.ro, the new solar park will require an investment of ROL193 million ($42.6 million) and will be the main bulk of a plan to deploy 50 MW of PV capacity in the country, with the remaining 5 MW being represented by small-scale floating PV arrays spread across its numerous hydropower plants.

Profit.ro also reports that in March, Hidroelectrica was interested in acquiring a 153 MW PV project under development by local real estate developer Portland Trust. In August, however, the project was bought by Israel-based renewable energy company Nofar Energy.

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Romania's PV project pipeline has increased considerably in recent months. In early September, the Romanian energy supplier OMV Petrom – majority-owned by Austrian business OMV – said it wants to build a 111 MW solar power plant at a former chemical plant in Işalniţa, Dolj county, in southwestern Romania. Furthermore, there is a 700 MW project that is set to be spread across the municipalities of Grăniceri and Pilu, and another one under development by CE Oltenia, which wants to deploy 310 MW at one of its coal power facilities.

In May 2020, the Romanian government introduced more favorable rules for power purchase agreements.

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