The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) intends to hire a consultant to provide technical consultancy services for the co-financing of photovoltaic projects carried out by the Oltenia Energy Complex (EC), according to an announcement by the bank, quoted by e-nergia.ro.

The EBRD says it intends to provide eight loans that will be used to finance the construction of eight photovoltaic parks in the Oltenia region of Romania. The total cost of building the eight photovoltaic parks, with a total installed capacity of 735 MWp, is of 621.4 million euros. The consultant to be hired by the EBRD will evaluate each of the eight photovoltaic park projects.

The EBRD announcement can be considered good news for the restructuring plan of the EC Oltenia, a plan that has been submitted to the European Commission but has not yet been approved. The plan envisages the phased reduction of coal-fired electricity production capacity, in parallel with the construction of new gas groups (in Ișalnița and Turceni) and photovoltaic parks on slag and ash depots.

On the other hand, the EC Oltenia parks project was sent by the Romanian Government to Brussels to receive funding and from the Modernization Fund, a mechanism through which Romania can receive about 10 billion euros to finance investments in the energy sector. The project has not yet received a green light for funding, as the restructuring plan has not yet been approved by Brussels, but according to sources close to the situation, “good news could come in January”.