EBRD reportedly ponders financing eight PV parks in southern Romania

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) seeks a consultant to provide technical consultancy services on photovoltaic (PV) park projects carried out by the Oltenia Energy Complex (CEO), which the Bank wants to finance, Economica.net reported.

CEO is seeking partners to set up special purpose vehicles for developing such PV projects and oil and gas company OMV Petrom, which seeks decarbonisation itself, is reportedly among the preferred bidders.

The EBRD says it intends to provide eight loans that will be used to finance the construction of eight PV parks in the southern part of Romania, in the Oltenia region. The total cost of building the eight photovoltaic parks, with a total installed capacity of 735 MWp, is EUR 621.4 mln. The consultant is supposed to evaluate each of the eight PV park projects.

On the other hand, the EC Oltenia PV parks project was sent by the Romanian Government to Brussels to receive funding and under the Modernization Fund, a mechanism through which Romania can receive about EUR 10 bln to finance investments in the energy sector. The project has not yet received a green light for funding, but according to sources close to the situation, "good news could come in January".

The EBRD’s support underpins the restructuring plan of the EC Oltenia, a plan that has been submitted for endorsement to the European Commission. The plan envisages the gradual reduction of coal-fired electricity production capacity, in parallel with the construction of new gas groups (in Ișalnița and Turceni) and PV parks on slag and ash dumps.

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)