EVRYO is focusing its investments in Romania on two directions: the development of the distribution network, where investments of up to 1.5 billion euros are needed annually nationwide, and the hybridization of its wind farms by adding storage units and photovoltaic power plants, said Ondrej Safar, Country Manager of the company.
“We have two directions: one is on renewables, where we are looking for new opportunities to invest, but at the same time we are looking to use existing assets for growth. That’s why, a year ago, we built Romania’s first floating photovoltaic park near Reșița, and we implemented a 6 MW battery energy storage project at our wind farms. We have other storage projects of 40-50 MW in development and we have plans to hybridize wind farms by adding solar panels,” he said.
The company has 600 MW of wind capacity, which it uses predominantly in spring, fall and winter, mostly in the morning and evening, while solar panels produce energy mainly during the day, in summer, when the wind is light. So these two technologies are complementary. On the distribution side, EVRYO has carried out studies which have shown that significant investments in the grid are needed for Romania to reach its 2030 targets and beyond. For example, over the next ten years, investments of 15 billion euros are needed in Romania’s energy distribution network, i.e. about 1.2-1.5 billion euros per year. Currently, the whole sector invests 0.4 billion euros annually. These investments are needed in order to be able to connect all prosumers to the grid and to be able to power all electric cars.
“These investments require multiple changes, such as legislative changes, to enable us to convince banks, financiers and shareholders to allocate these sums to us. Any money invested in the networks is sooner or later transferred into tariffs. According to our calculations, on an electricity bill of 100 lei, these investments will add 3 lei per month. But we have to relate this extra 3 lei to the subsequent benefits of these investments, i.e. those consumers will have electricity and will be able to charge their cars,” Safar added.
