Romania’s Hidroelectrica plans 100 MW of floating PV parks and storage batteries on Olt River

Romania’s state-controlled Hidroelectrica (BVB: H2O) aims to install supplementary floating photovoltaic parks on the reservoirs of five hydropower plants it operates on the Lower Olt, with attached energy storage batteries (BESS) for each of them. In total, 90 MW of PV floating panels would be added to the 10 MW currently under construction, with the BESS capacity attached planned at 800 MWh, according to Economica.net, citing an auction launched by the company on the Electronic Public Procurement System.

In total, there are five floating photovoltaic parks, with a total installed capacity of 90 MW, located on the reservoirs of Ipotești, Drăgănești, Frunzaru, Rusănești, and Izbiceni. For each, a capacity of 20 MW is proposed, less at Ipotești, where only 10 MW is being installed in addition to the 10 MW capacity already under construction.

Alongside these floating photovoltaic systems, Hidroelectrica will install, for each power plant, a 40 MW energy storage battery, but with a storage capacity of 4 hours. Therefore, Hidroelectrica is considering a 200 MW battery, with 800 MWh capacity, for these floating photovoltaic projects on the Lower Olt.

"The photovoltaic production system will be located on the water surface of the reservoir, and the electricity storage system will be located on the available land areas downstream of the power plant dam. Alternatively, the photovoltaic production system can also be located on land owned by the Beneficiary, near hydroelectric or hybrid power plants, both on land and on water," the project’s specifications read.

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