Nofar plans to build energy storage units alongside its renewable energy projects in Romania. Although there are still some problems in Romania due to the current legislation, there is a trend of openness on the part of the authorities to improve and adapt the legislative framework, said Andreea Gilicel, Head of Finance and Trading, Nofar Energy.
“At Romanian level, given that we have a portfolio of 1 GW of photovoltaic projects, we are also focussing on the option of adding projects on the storage side. We have 350 MW in the pipeline,” she said at the conference “Stepping stones for the BESS technologies development”, organised by Energynomics.
Gilicel said that, at the European level, Nofar already has two operational storage projects, one in the UK, which is also one of the largest storage projects, a 600 MW project under development. Another project is operational in Germany, launched in November last year and already with “spectacular results”.
This international experience on the storage side is helping Nofar to establish the business model it will follow. As for energy storage in Romania, the company is interested in cost efficiencies for balancing the grid, as well as opportunities in the arbitrage and ancillary services area. In Poland, the company has recently entered the storage area and considers this sector as fundamental in renewable projects.
“Our experience in the UK and Germany shows opportunities also in the capacity market area, to be at the network operator’s disposal, and we would like to have in Romania such more flexible and developer-friendly options,” Gilicel said.
She added that the amortisation of investments in energy storage units depends very much on the business model each company adopts. Depending on this, amortisation of these costs can be achieved over a number of years.
“Batteries pay for themselves, but over several years, not necessarily quickly. Such investments can be amortised in 2-3-5 years, but in reality, if you look at the cash flow, the situation looks a bit different,” Gilicel added.
The conference “Stepping stones for the BESS technologies development” was organised by Energynomics with the support of our partners: AJ Brand, Alive Capital, BCR, Big Store, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Enery, Enevo Group, Enexus. EVOLVE Energy Management Solutions, Huawei, Nofar Energy, Photomate, Prime Batteries Technology, Pixii AS, Renomia Gallagher, smartPulse, SolarToday, SolaX Power, Think Blu Solution, Wiren, WTW Romania, YEO.