Foreign investors complain about Romanian wind projects developments

The quarrel between foreign investors and local authorities about wind energy projects in Dobrogea went on from a site clash which ended up in shootings this summer to a battle of official declarations. Two foreign investors which have started projects in the Cogealac area in Dobrogea, CEZ and Eolica, both underline the risks of blocking investments in the area. Their takes on the situation however differ. By Corina Saceanu CEZ complains about project stopped 'without solid legal arguments' Czech company CEZ, which develops wind parks worth around EUR 1.1 billion in Dobrogea, says its project in Cogealac was stopped 'without solid legal arguments' because of the quarrel between the Territorial Construction Inspectorate in Constanta and the Constanta County Council. The latter issued the construction permits for CEZ' s project in Cogealac. “The investment has been blocked by the Constanta Construction Territorial Inspectorate due to frictions with the authority which issued the construction permits for the second part of the project – the Constanta County Council. […] In the current economic context, the EUR 1.1 billion investment from CEZ was stopped without solid legal arguments and without any official notice, raising questions over the business climate for foreign investors doing business in Romania,” according to CEZ, quoted by Mediafax. CEZ says it has followed all the permitting stages required by the Romanian legislation and that it has all the needed permits to build the wind park in Fantanele and Cogealac, a project it acquired over two years ago. Eolica raises questions over competitors' authorizations However, on the other side, another investor in wind parks in the area, Eolica Dobrogea, owned by NEK-group, C-Tech Srl., Rokura Srl., which has a contract with the Spanish utility Iberdrola Renovables, S.A, says only the urbanistic certificates from the Cogealac municipality allow a company to go for wind developments in the area. Eolica says CEZ has not obtained the required certificates from the Cogealag municipality, which triggered them to apply for permits directly at the regional level, from the Constanta County Council. The two companies' wind project are located at least partially in the same area in Cogealac, according to Eolica, which applied and received the construction permits directly from the Cogealac municipality. Commenting on how CEZ got its approvals from the Constanta County Council, Eolica says “this was based on non existing or illegally received documents which are officially required for construction licenses; everything without approval of the affected municipality of Cogealac. Only 3 days after issuance of this “construction licence”, our competitors started construction on site, ring-fenced the territory they claimed and posted guards on site in order to protect the illegal construction of the first roads and foundations of the turbines. This, by the way, exactly in the same area where our company did receive construction license from the municipality of Cogealac for the four above mentioned projects. Our construction license was issued before the incorrect one of our competitors, and our development is based on a fully completed, comprehensive and legally correct permitting process,” Eolica wrote in an official statement. Eolica therefore explains why the Cogealac mayor and citizens of the locality went to protest against the CEZ developments in the area. A clash between the Cogealac inhabitants and the guards on the CEZ site ended up with several people being shot with rubber bullets earlier this summer. “Having in mind that due to these developments, heavy investments in a country where they are required most, are postponed or even canceled, this should also be a right signal to the politicians in charge in Bucharest,” Eolica representatives conclude. On the other side, CEZ says the company has not received an official notice to stop works on the site, but found out about this from a press conference. “The fact that Territorial Construction Inspectorate in Constanta questions the legality of an authorization issued by other state institutions create an image of a difficult business and legislative climate in Romania,” according to CEZ. What do foreign investors make of these? Despite all these 'hard to understand difficulties' from 'several representatives' of local authorities in Constanta, CEZ says it has started to produce energy in the area from 90 of the wind turbines. In its turn, Eolica says "we must take corresponding actions and apply for our common rights in court. We will see how this crisis will develop and finally end, but we will only follow the legally correct ways and not change our ethical attitude."