OX2 may revive wind power projects of 402 MW in Romania

Swedish company OX2 intends to bring back to life its dormant wind power projects in Romania’s Black Sea region of Dobruja, a news outlet learned. The units have a planned capacity of 402 MW in total.

Four wind farm projects in Romania that lost their licenses five years ago are about to come back on track, Profit.ro wrote, without revealing sources. OX2 from Sweden, which has announced it would list on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm, plans to revive the development of South Wind Cherchezu, South Wind Cherchezu 2, South Wind Dumbrăveni and South Wind Viroaga with a combined capacity of 402 MW, according to the report.

The projects in the southeastern region of Dobruja, or Dobrogea in Romanian, are more than a decade old. As the government cut back on subsidies, the permits from 2014 expired.

OX2 said more than half of the targeted SEK 3.3 billion or EUR 328 million in proceeds from the initial public offering would facilitate growth while that the remainder would be used to pay off debt. The company is controlled by Peas Industries and Altor.

Projects are intended for sale

The firm based in Stockholm said it secures land to enable the development and delivery of turnkey wind and solar farms and that it acquires and further develops projects that have already been initiated by other developers. It added that it doesn’t own energy production assets, but that it sells completed projects to financial and industrial investors, larger companies and energy producers.

OX2 sells completed projects to financial and industrial investors, larger companies and energy producers

As of the end of March, OX2 had a project development portfolio of 17 GW in onshore and offshore wind and solar power. The company said in the press release about the upcoming IPO that it offers technical and commercial management services to projects it has developed and sold as well as to projects developed by third parties.

OX2 operates in Sweden, Finland, Poland, France, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Italy and Romania.

Several wind power endeavors in Dobruja

Other companies are also considering projects for new renewable energy production units in the same region. Transmission system operator Transelectrica approved a technical permit two months ago for the connection of a 393 MW wind power plant in Peştera in Dobruja, near the Black Sea in Romania. Radramo Power, established in August, is developing it.

The Peştera 2 wind farm is expected to be connected in 2025, while the permit would need to be renewed within a year.

Eolica Dobrogea, partner of Spanish giant Iberdrola in several wind farm projects in Romania, began work on obtaining licenses for a planned 500 MW complex in Cogealac, Profit.ro reported a month ago. It comprises wind turbines, a gas power plant and hydrolysis systems for the production of hydrogen.

Two large wind farm projects have lately been launched in Dobruja, where Europe’s biggest facility of the kind is located

Europe’s largest wind power plant Fântânele-Cogealac is located in the same area. Eolica Dobrogea is fully owned by C-Tech SRL and both firms were insolvent at the time the article was published. The news website added the company applied the hybrid power plant project for  inclusion in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP or PNNR in Romanian)

The Cogealac endeavor is also intended for sale, the documents showed.

The government said in the PNNR that it would facilitate the construction of 1.6 GW in wind and 2 GW in solar power plants by 2025.