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Renera Energy is developing a 50 MW floating photovoltaic project in Romania. The facility would probably be the biggest in Europe at the moment.
Romania is spreading its solar power boom, mostly driven by prosumers and rooftop photovoltaics, to the floating solar power segment. The technology is gaining in popularity across the region that Balkan Green Energy News covers. Over the past year, utility-scale projects were launched in most countries in Southeastern Europe. The latest announcement came from Renera Energy.
The company announced that it started the development phase for the largest floating photovoltaic park in Romania. The location of 37 hectares is in Brăila county in the country’s east.
Renera Energy points to permitting, grid crunch
Formerly known as Energie Zukunft Schweiz or Sunwin Energy and part of Renera Group, the developer said it plans the installation of 50 MW. It didn’t specify whether the capacity refers to the grid connection or it is in peak terms.
In any case, it would probably be the biggest floating solar power plant in Europe at the moment. Renera Group is based in Basel, Switzerland. It operates in Italy, Germany and Spain as well. It is active in consulting, project development and operation and energy trading.
The company is looking for sites for battery energy storage systems
Chief Executive Officer of Renera Energy Romania Marc Richard Steib pointed to permitting and grid challenges in the country, but still expressed willingness to continue investing in green energy and storage. The subsidiary said that it builds photovoltaic parks only on nonproductive agricultural land and industrial sites.
The firm is looking for locations of one to three hectares and up to three kilometers from power substations for battery energy storage systems. Renera Energy said it has solutions for municipal authorities and real estate companies to set up solar power units on car parks, roofs and land together with charging installations for electric vehicles.
Romania spearheading investments in floatovoltaics in Southeastern Europe
Of note, Romanian state-owned power utility Hidroelectrica said last week that it would invest more than EUR 1.5 billion together with Masdar in a joint venture for solar power, including floating PV, and batteries. The National Agency for Land Improvement (ANIF) revealed last year a project for 20 MW of floating photovoltaics on irrigation canals.
TMK Hydroenergy Power, formerly a part of CEZ Group, operates a 1 MW floating solar power plant on the reservoir of its Grebla small hydropower plant. The facility is near Reșița in Caraș-Severin county, in Romania’s far west.
As for the rest of the Balkans, there is one small floating solar power plant in Albania and another in Turkey. The concept is also popularly known as floatovoltaics.
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