Enel Green Power has been developing wind energy, hydro and PV solar power in the Balkans and Romania, the site of impressive results in 2013 that include an investment agreement struck with the EIB.
Enel Green Power has 875 megawatts of installed wind, hydroelectric and PVsolar power in the Balkans and Romania, with particularly impressive results achieved in Romania. Following the rapid growth in wind power over 2012 and 2013, the Group also grid-connected 36MW of PV solar capacity between July and November.
The most recent plant to be put into service was Podari in south-western Romania. With a total installed capacity of 10MW, when fully operational it will produce up to 12 million kilowatt-hours per year, enough to meet the annual energy needs of around 10,000 Romanian households while avoiding the emission of about 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
EGP also signed a €200 million investment agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a number of wind farms in the Banat and Dobrogea regions of the country. The 15-year agreement, which has a grace period of up to two and a half years, offers competitive conditions compared with the market benchmark. For the EIB the funding of projects that help increase renewable energy generation is one of its priorities.
In January EGP strengthened its presence in Greece when it put 19 new PV solar power plants into service, in which around 42MW of installed capacity was provided by EGP and more than 15 MW by ESSE, a joint venture with Sharp. Also good for EGP is that the renewable energy market in Greece has not been negatively affected by macroeconomic and political issues, and remains a good place for investment.
EGP’s presence in the Balkans also includes the 42MW of wind power capacity installed in Bulgaria.