Romania, which has set an ambitious target of generating 33% of its power from renewable sources by 2020, primarily wind energy (coal currently fires almost 40% of the country’s electricity, with most of the rest coming from burning oil and gas), has begun its alternative energy push with the start of operations at the Fantanele-Cogealac wind power plant, near the Black Sea in the province of Dobrogea.
The facility is being built by Czech energy giant CEZ. Once completed in 2012, it will produce 600 megawatts of power, making it the largest onshore wind farm in continental Europe, nearly doubling the output of the Whitelee facility in Scotland, Europe’s current largest plant.
Not to be outdone, Spain’s Iberdrola SA (PINK: IBDRY), the world’s biggest wind-farm owner, plans to construct an even larger facility (1,500 megawatts) in Romania, a project that will require a minimum of US$2 billion in investment through 2017. In all, the company plans some 50 Romanian wind parks capable of supplying power to almost 1 million homes.
At the end of 2009, Romania had an installed wind capacity of only 14 megawatts. That number is expected to jump to above 500 megawatts this year. The Romanian Wind Energy Association (RWEA) forecasts that the nation’s total wind capacity could reach 5 gigawatts by 2020.
Romanian law makes receiving planning permission to build wind farms relatively simple. Renewable energy-focused Italian utility Enel Green Power and Portugal’s EDP Renováveis are also planning to invest in wind assets in the country.
Source: www.energyboom.com