Engie Romania expands its renewable energy production portfolio with its first hybrid plant, from wind and solar sources, with a total installed capacity of 57 MW. The group is considering green investments of 1 GW in Romania in the long term, said the company representatives present in Gemenele commune in Brăila county, at the inauguration.
The new hybrid plant will generate approximately 140 GWh annually, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 46,800 households.
“Renewables represent the segment in which Engie invests the most. Today we have 42 GW of renewable capacity in the world and we want to reach the target of 80 GW by 2030. It will not be easy. We are now developing on average, as a group, about 4GW of renewable capacity per year, but we want to increase the pace to 6 GW in the coming years. We think the batteries will be very important for balancing the system,” said Alexandre Cosquer, MD Renewables Europe, Engie, at the press conference to launch the new park.
“The Gemenele project is our first hybrid project in Romania, where we combine solar and wind. We believe that this helps us to be even more efficient when we offer our customers PPAs – bilateral contracts… We live in a world where volatility is extreme and then this is one of the solutions”, added Nicolas Richard, CEO, Engie Romania.
At the same time, Engie is currently analyzing renewable projects of 750 MW in Romania, claims Cristian Buzan, deputy general director, Engie Romania. “We aim to go from 211 MW, which we have at the moment, to 1GW of installed power in 2030. We currently have five solar sites, three wind sites, we will very soon add around 38 MW through the Aricești solar park, Prahova, which will become operational in November 2024. We have 750 MW under analysis and in various development phases,” says Cristian Buzan.
Gemenele project will also benefit from storage
The Gemenele project increases Engie Group’s total installed wind and solar power generation capacity in Romania to 211 MW, strengthening its position in the green electricity generation sector. Engie officials told Energynomics that it will also be able to benefit from storage in the future, which is becoming increasingly important for balancing the grid.
The hybrid plant became operational with the completion of the construction of the photovoltaic park, a greenfield project developed by the company’s teams in the last year. Located on a 14-hectare plot of land, next to the already operational wind farm owned by Engie in Gemenele commune, the photovoltaic park has an installed capacity of 9.3 MWp and consists of 17,100 bi-facial photovoltaic panels. They ensure a better energy yield and a more efficient use of the surface, being mounted on a metal tracker structure that follows the position of the sun to maximize the performance of the installation.
The photovoltaic park, together with the existing wind farm, with a capacity of 47.5 MW, are connected to the same network and thus become one of the first hybrid plants from renewable sources in Romania. Each kWh produced by the photovoltaic plant contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions, resulting in an estimated annual saving of approximately 49 kilotons.
“We are pleased to inaugurate the first hybrid power plant in the company’s portfolio. It is an investment that will allow us to offer our customers electricity from renewable sources, considering that, for legal entities, we can propose medium and long-term purchase contracts, thus supporting them to achieve their goals of reducing carbon emissions and predictability of energy costs”, said Cristian Buzan.
The Engie Romania Group owns and operates 3 wind farms with a total capacity of 178 MW, in the counties of Brăila, Constanța and Galați, as well as 5 photovoltaic parks, with a total installed capacity of 33 MW, in the counties of Arad, Buzău, Harghita and Teleorman. In 2023, the company made the investment decision and started the construction of a greenfield solar power plant in Ariceștii Rahtivani commune, Prahova county, with a total capacity of 37.2 MWp.
More details in Energynomics Q3 Magazine.
