LUKERG Renew orders turbines from Vestas Wind Systems for Romanian project

The LUKERG Renew partnership has placed a “firm and unconditional” order with Danish/German firm Vestas for 36 wind turbines for the Topolog Dorobantu wind farm project in Tulcea, Romania. The turbines will have a combined capacity of 72MW and LUKERG has kept open the option to buy a further 12MW worth of wind turbines from the Central and Eastern European division of the engineering firm, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.

The turbines are due for delivery in the second half of 2013, but Vestas did not give a figure for the value of the order. Vestas Central Europe President Thomas Richterich said the project marks another important milestone in further the developing the promising Romanian wind energy market. The order reinforces Vestas place in the Romanian market “as a leading player with the strongest local presence and the largest operational fleet,” according to Vestas managing director for Romania Catalina Dragomir. Vestas also added to the recent comments from the renewable energy sector on the planned reduction in green certificates awarded, following recommendations from Romania's energy authority ANRE. Chief sales officer Juan Araluce said his company is hoping for speedy clarification from the Romanian government on renewable energy incentives policy, saying that short-term energy price concerns should be balanced with keeping investment in the sector feasible. When complete, the Topolog Dorobantu plant will produce over 200GWh per year; enough energy for 60,000 households and a saving of 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Vestas. Vestas is an engineering firm specialized in producing wind turbines. Its Central and Eastern European division is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and the company has created employment for 18,000 people worldwide. The company has so far installed wind turbines in 73 countries. LUKERG Renew, a joint venture between Russian Lukoil and Italian energy group ERG. The new group took over the Romanian wind park end-2012. The buyer planned at the time to invest some EUR 135 million in this new project and planned to start construction at the wind park in the first quarter of 2013. LUKERG also plans to have the project running in 2014. ERG Renew and LUKOIL-Ecoenergo signed a joint venture agreement in 2011 for LUKERG Renew, based in Vienna. The joint venture will initially focus its operations on Bulgaria and Romania, followed by Ukraine and Russia, according to previous announcements. The recent deal is the second transaction for the JV, after buying a 40MW operational wind farm in Bulgaria from Raiffeisen Energy & Environment. ERG Renew (ERG Group) is active in the generation of electricity from renewable sources, above all in the wind sector. As regards Italy, there are currently 8 wind farms in operation, with a total installed capacity of 246 MW; in France, subsidiary ERG Eolienne France S.a.s. owns 6 wind farms, with a total installed capacity of 64.4 MW. editor@romania-insider.com