Grid problems slow adoption of wind energy in Romania

Romania is not meeting its vast potential to harness energy from wind, in part because of administrative and other hurdles to connect to the electric grid.

That message came from the European Wind Energy Association today, which said Romania had 10 megawatts of installed capacity from wind at the end of 2008—less than 1 percent of its total 19 gigawatts of installed capacity from all sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That adoption rate is out of line with the rest of the European Union, which had 65 GW of installed wind capacity at the end of 2008, the EWEA says. Last year, wind held the largest share of new energy sources, contributing 36 percent of all new electricity generating capacity.

The EWEA called for an upgrade to the electric grid in order for Romania to meet its EU Directive to increase the amount of renewables in its energy mix from 17.8 percent at the end of 2005 to 24 percent in 2020.

"Wind energy will be key for us to reach our 2020 renewables target," said Alexandru Sandulescu of the Romanian Ministry of Economy at today's EWEA meeting, according to a news release.

EWEA President Arthouros Zervos called on the government to promptly fix problems, such as the administrative procedures and grid access for renewables projects, in order to promote wind energy, which is expected to be Romania's main driver in acheiving its renewables target.

If Romania passes the appropriate legislation, the wind market is ready to pounce. Last year, renewable power developer Continental Wind Partners announced a €1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) deal to sell 600 MW of wind turbines to European utility CEZ Group for the adjacent Fantanele and Cogealac wind farms in southeast Romania (see Continental Wind closing €1.1B wind deal in Romania). The wind farm is expected to contribute almost 30 percent of the renewable energy in Romania.

The wind farm is under construction. In May, CEZ was in talks to secure a €200 million loan from the European Investment Bank for the project.