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Renalfa Power Clusters acquired two projects in Romania, aiming to combine them into a solar and battery power cluster. The joint venture expects both systems to be complete next year. They would eventually grow to 1.07 GW for storage and at least 568 MW in peak photovoltaic capacity. The plan is for the BESS segment to include a sodium ion system.
Arad county in western Romania hosts the site for Europe’s largest solar power project and, with a new investment, another landmark renewables endeavor is underway. RGreen Invest and Renalfa Solarpro Group have just established Renalfa Power Clusters or RPC. It now owns the Horia 2 solar power project, for 365 MW in peak capacity. The joint venture also bought a standalone BESS project in Arad, for 400 MW with a two-hour duration, translating to 800 MWh in capacity.
The new owner said it intends to combine and redesign the projects into a single power cluster and expand both segments. They are fully derisked and in late-stage development, with expected commercial launch in 2027, the announcement reads.
Cluster to pioneer sodium ion, grid forming, artificial intelligence
In the first stage, the photovoltaic system would be increased to 568 MW in peak terms and the BESS one would grow to 669 MW and 2 GWh. The second phase is for another 400 MW for storage, with 1.61 GWh in capacity, and potentially in combination with more solar power, the companies revealed.
Horia-Arad cluster will pioneer a hybrid dual-chemistry storage plan of lithium ion and sodium ion batteries, a grid-forming inverter technology, and a proprietary AI-driven dispatch and control platform, said Chief Executive Officer of Renalfa Ivo Prokopiev. He called the wider planned cluster the Sovereign Grid Anchor, adding that it would be capable of providing grid services previously exclusive to thermal power plants.
Planned initial solar capacity grows 24%
Notably, at the time when CEE sold Horia 2 to Renalfa Solarpro, the project was for 293.3 MW in peak capacity and a 269.2 MW grid connection.
Renalfa Power Clusters builds on the scale and success of the partners’ first joint venture, Renalfa IPP. Deployment of hybrid assets enabled it to become the first company in Europe to bring green baseload products to market, the statement reads.
Renalfa Solarpro Group supplies more than 4.5 TWh of green energy to clients and energy exchanges, industries and households in four countries. It operates charging stations network Eldrive and electric vehicle car sharing platform Spark.
RGreen Invest is a Paris-based investment management company. It has backed over 3,000 projects, mainly in Europe, amounting to more than EUR 3.4 billion managed. The firm participates in Renalfa Power Clusters through its Infragreen equity funds.
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