Top five most attractive locations for wind farm projects after “conquest” of Dobrogea

Counties such as Galati, Vaslui, Vrancea, Braila and Iasi are now attracting wind power investors, after Tulcea and Constanta were the major targets for such investments in the last few years.

According to the prospective plan for 2008-2012 of Transelectrica (Romania's national grid company), Tulcea and Constanta, with 75 prospective projects, are followed by Galati, with around 11 projects, Vaslui, with 10 wind projects, Vrancea with 7 such projects, Braila with 6 and Iasi, where studies have been submitted to Transelectrica for 4 projects.

Investors such as Germany's E.ON, which are present on the Romanian electricity and gas distribution and supply market, are interested in several wind power projects with a capacity of around 150 MW in the Moldavia area, which is in fact the area served by E.ON. Other investors, such as the local partners of Continental Wind Partners, the developers that last year sold a 600-MW Dobrogea-based project to Czech-held CEZ, are targeting the Galati area for 470-MW wind power projects.

"We are currently developing projects with a capacity of around 1,000 MW, located in various regions across Romania, with Galati being one of them. We also have burgeoning solar and biomass projects for electricity generation. It is quite difficult to anticipate right now when the first MW of these projects will be completed, because the projects are in various stages of development," says Radu Popoiu, general manager of PS Wind Management, a company that works in partnership with Continental Wind Partners.

Experts in the field say there are three factors that weigh heavily when choosing the location of a wind power investment.

Wind is the leading factor, with Dobrogea and Moldova being the best areas from this point of view. The second most important factor is how much room there is in the power grid, with Dobrogea being less attractive due to the numerous power generation projects announced in the area, non-wind projects included. The land also counts, and the time needed for securing all the necessary permits.