Hidroelectrica to forge cooperation with Verbund

State-owned Hidroelectrica plans to sign a cooperation agreement with Austria’s electricity producer Verbund, Romanian media reported.

The approval of the cooperation agreement between the biggest power producer in Romania and the largest provider of electricity in Austria is on the agenda of the next General Shareholders Meeting planned to take place in October, Romania’s portal economica.net reported.

This will be a cooperation for the dispatching services and digitization activities, as well as for Hidroelectrica’s unfinished investments, which the two companies plan to finalize in partnership, unnamed energy market sources told economica.net, adding that Verbund has experience in digitization, while it also has a wind farm in Romania, which could lead the two companies to combine their production capacities.

Verbund, majority owned by the Austrian state, is the largest electricity producer in this country, with hydropower plants (7,700 MW), wind farms, and thermal power plants in Austria, Germany, and Romania. The company also operates transmission networks and trades in and sells electricity. Verbund has a 225 MW wind farm on the Romanian Black Sea coast.

Hidroelectrica operates hydropower plants with an installed capacity of 6,400 MW. In May, the company’s CEO Bogdan Bogdea said that Hidroelectrica is considering the acquisition of wind and solar plants in Romania, as well as energy companies abroad.

He announced that the idea is to diversify the state-owned company’s generation portfolio and to provide balancing services.