OMV Petrom, CE Oltenia to build 450 MW of Romanian solar parks

Romanian oil and gas group OMV Petrom SA has joined hands with domestic lignite power producer Complexul Energetic Oltenia (CE Oltenia) to build four solar parks in their home country totalling roughly 450 MW.

The overall investment in the initiative is estimated at more than EUR 400 million (USD 392.5m), OMV Petrom said in a bourse filing on Monday. Around 70% of the total required amount will be financed through the European Union’s Modernization Fund.

The two firms will develop the projects through four equally-owned project vehicles. The photovoltaic (PV) parks are planned to be installed on former mining sites operated by CE Oltenia in Isalnita, Tismana, Rosia and Rovinari. They are scheduled to start feeding electricity into the grid in 2024. Each of OMV Petrom and CE Oltenia will take 50% of the power output.

CE Oltenia picked OMV Petrom as co-investor in the projects in December 2021. The scheme will be executed the support the coal-based energy producer’s goal to support the decarbonisation of Romania’s energy system.

"Our goal is to put in function more than 1 GW of renewable power capacity by 2030, including through partnerships,” said Franck Neel, member of OMV Petrom’s executive board.

According to the partners, the new solar parks will lift Romania’s installed solar power capacity by 30% from the current 1.4 GW.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 0.981)

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