Repower gives up on investments in renewables

A Swiss group changed its mind about investing in renewable energy sources in Romania, due to law changes, portals Wall-street.ro and Capital.ro said.

Private power supplier Repower Furnizare Romania, the local subsidiary of Swiss-held Repower AG, was planning to invest about CHF 200 million (EUR 192 million) in renewable energy production units, as well as in hydropower plants. As reported by Energy World magazine’s portal, the capacity should have amounted to 100 MW by 2020.

„Romania is the fourth key market, after Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Unfortunately, the budget for 2020, as defined by the board of directors, is used to build market capacities in Romania… We wanted to invest in the renewable energy sector, including hydro design capacities of 5 to 10 MW. But due to the amendments to the legislative framework we had to stop,” said Dan Dragoş Drăgan, chief executive of Repower Furnizare Romania, as quoted by portal Business-review.eu.

Despite its recent decision, the local subsidiary, which has a 5% market share among independent power suppliers, will still invest approximately EUR 1 million in the local market, in new products and services. The company will also focus on energy retail this year.