European Energy has officially launched its local operations, also announcing an expansion its activities in Romania, with 935 MW under development in renewable energy projects, of which 810 MW in solar parks and 125 MW in wind parks currently, to 1.5 GW in the medium term. The first 20 MW solar park project is ready for construction, which is scheduled to begin in 2023. The company has also received grid connection approval for another 126 MW project, which is underway.
“We are developing, building, and operating renewable energy projects in Romania, at the moment we are in the development phase. We expect the first project to be ready to build in a couple of months. We have a couple of ATRs, so we’ll move quite quickly. The first project is a small solar one, of about 20 MW, while the others for which we already have a connection approval are each of 126 MW- one is wind, and another is solar. The target is to have in the next five years at least 1.5GW in operation in Romania,” told Energynomics Ioannis Kalapodas, Head of the Bucharest office, European Energy. “The company is also interested in offshore wind, to become a leader in Romania,” Kalapodas added.
European Energy has four pillars of development: solar, onshore and offshore wind, and, most recently, Power-to-X, said Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of European Energy, Denmark.
“We have a fully integrated value chain, from the very early greenfield development to permitting, acquisition, and construction, and in the end, we cover O&M for our plants. Further, we sell our power to local utilities and provide power to households in various countries we are active. Overall, we have a pipeline of 40 GW of projects in 26 countries. We have now an office in Bucharest, but, besides that, we have 19 more offices, mainly in Europe,” said Knud Erik Andersen.
European Energy has also entered Power-to-X technology and it will produce e-methanol for the large transport industry. The company will produce methanol with the help of a 300 MW solar plant in Denmark, the largest solar plant in the Nordics, used to obtain hydrogen, which later is mixed with carbon, from CCS installations, to obtain methanol – an investment of around 250 million euro without any state support that will be ready in the near future.
“If Romania will have the interest, we would like to investigate the possibility of having a similar construction here, because we think that the natural resources for solar are here higher than in Denmark,” Knud Erik Andersen added.
”European Energy is a cutting-edge, impactful company involved in green energy, and as it had been active in many other countries, it is undoubtedly the beginning of a very successful story in renewable energy here, in Romania.
This summer has been one of the most challenging than we can remember. Each year we come to say the same thing, as climate change and its increasingly intense effects are getting more and more noticeable. The drought, forest fire, and floods are all increasing the political call to action… At the same time, due to the tense geopolitical situation, we have come to notice yet again that fossil fuel is subject not only to unsustainability but also to unpredictability and insecurity. Therefore, we need to produce the needed energy in a more sustainable way, and this means leaving fossil fuels in the past and preparing our future for renewables like solar and wind. And it means new solutions, like hydrogen and Power –to-X solutions,” said HE Uffe A. Balslev, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy, Romania.
”The focus must be on energy efficiency, as well”, HE Uffe A. Balslev added.
”By joining the sustainable and green transition, Romania is investing in its own future. In 2020, 68% of Denmark’s energy consumption came from renewables such as wind, solar and biofuels. An impressive number of onshore and offshore wind turbines accounted for 46% alone. Secondly, the money is there. Never before has Romania access to so much funding for this kind of transition… Is just a question of using this money wisely,” HE Uffe A. Balslev concluded.
