Biggest wind investors post EUR 450 million losses

Ten largest companies in Romania’s wind energy sector posted cumulated losses of almost EUR 450 million last year. By comparison, they recorded total profits of EUR 112 million in 2014, Ziarul Financiar said.

Between 2009 and 2013, installed capacity of wind energy power plants increased from 14 MW to 3 GW, following investments of about EUR 4.5 billion, according to a report by Romania-Insider. The investments flourished, as the Romanian state offered a generous support scheme for investors during this period, which was based on green certificates paid by consumers.

International investors such as Energias de Portugal, Czech company ČEZ, Italian group Enel, Austrian Verbund, have assets in this field. The support scheme, however, proved to be a burden for consumers, especially for the industrial ones, which paid high energy bills. The state changed the support scheme in mid-2013, cutting the number of green certificates offered to the renewable energy investors, forcing them to rethink their business plans in Romania.