Photon Energy N.V. announces that Photon Energy Engineering Romania S.R.L. – the Group's Romanian subsidiary dedicated to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services – has completed and grid-connected two photovoltaic (PV) power plants in its Romanian market

/BUCHAREST, August 29, 2023, 9:30 BST, PHOTON ENERGY/

The power plants have a combined generation capacity of 10.3 MWp. We are excited to have expanded our portfolio of operating solar PV assets by an additional 10.3 MWp,’ said Georg Hotar, CEO of Photon Energy Group. ‘Following the commissioning of our first six power plants in Romania earlier this year, the commissioning of the installations in Făget and Săhăteni represents another important milestone for Photon Energy in the Romanian renewable energy market, where we have an additional capacity of around 20 MWp in five different locations at an advanced stage of construction.’

The total annual production of the power plants is expected to be around 4.7 GWh and 10.9 GWh, respectively. High-efficiency bifacial photovoltaic modules mounted on single-axis trackers will deliver clean energy to the grids managed by E-Distribuție Banat (Făget) and Distribuție Energie Electrică Romania (Sahateni). The electricity generated will be sold on the energy market on a merchant basis, without any governmental support or a power purchase agreement with an energy off-taker.

The Company expects the power plants to generate around EUR 2.25 million in revenues in 2024 based on the current forward prices for electricity base load in Romania.

Located near Făget (Timiș County) and Săhăteni (Buzău County), the power plants extend over 4.8 and 10 hectares of greenfield land, respectively, and are equipped with a combined total of 18,300 photovoltaic modules. The power plants are owned and operated by special-purpose companies, which themselves are fully owned by Photon Energy Group.

The Company’s IPP (Independent Power Producer) portfolio now includes 96 solar power plants, with a combined generation capacity of 123.4 MWp. At this time a total capacity of over 100 MWp is selling clean electricity directly on the energy market.

The Company is currently developing utility-scale solar PV projects with a combined capacity of over 1.2 GWp MWp in Australia and its key CEE markets, including 223 MWp in Romania, of which a total capacity of 20.1 MWp is at an advanced stage of construction.

In the Romanian market, Photon Energy offers a wide range of services including project development, EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and O&M (operations and maintenance) of PV power plants. In addition, the Company distributes best-in-class PV components and builds PV rooftop installations for both commercial and industrial customers..

History of Solar Market Development in Romania

By the end of 2011, the country had approximately 3MW installed capacity, by the end of 2012, this capacity increased fourteenfold to approximately 42MW, and with a more than thirty-fold explosive growth, cumulative installed capacity reached 1,293MW (1.29GW) by the end of 2014. However, solar photovoltaic market growth in Romania between 2015 and 2020 was moderate, with only 97MW newly installed capacity in this period. The Renewable Market Watch™ registered that after a 7-year stagnation in the solar power market in Romania since 2021, the activity in the solar energy sector increased, and the number of photovoltaic projects under development and construction is promptly increasing.

Romania Solar Resource Potential

Romania has very good solar resource potential as the geographical location is favourable for utilising solar energy. Romania is located in an area with a solar potential of 210 sunny days per year and with an annual solar energy flux between 1,000 kWh/m²/year and 1,300 kWh/m²/year. From this total amount, around 600 to 800 kWh/m²/year is technically feasible.

Chart 1: Solar Resource Map of Romania; Sources: World Bank Group, ESMAP, SolarGis

According to the study of the Faculty of Energy Engineering at the University of Oradea in the South of Romania, the yearly solar radiation is 1450 ÷ 1750 kWh/m², being the best value for solar installations. The values greater than 1450 kWh/m² are in Oltenia, Muntenia, and the South of Moldova. The most important solar regions of Romania are the Black Sea coast, Dobrogea, and Oltenia, with an average of 1,600 kWh/m²/year.

Future Market Trend

The Romanian solar energy market is expected to be heading toward the expansion phase by 2033. Factors propelling the market growth include concerns regarding the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, such as degradation, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), severe climate change conditions, and others.  Also, rapid urbanization and economic growth in the largest Romanian cities are significant factors driving the solar energy market. The power market (including the solar photovoltaic sector) in Romania has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and the military conflict in Ukraine, but we remain optimistic about the future solar energy development in the country by 2032.

For more information about the solar PV power market in Romania, including full contact details of solar project owners and developers, you may read here: Romania Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Market Outlook 2023÷2032 

To download the executive summary brochure with sample pages, please access from here: Romania Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook 2023÷2032 - Sample

For a better understanding of the benefits of using our reports, you may read here: Benefit List - Reports of Renewable Market Watch 

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