ROMANIA

Solar energy appears to be the new star of the renewable energy market after two years in which investments in wind farms have been in the spotlight, attracting over EUR1.5 billion.

After the green energy support scheme was approved, everybody expected a boom of interest in solar energy, the appetite for investments was dampened by the difficult access to financing. So the potential of the market could only be released by major companies who would invest big amounts in solar farms, as was the case with wind farms. Practically, 2012 will be a test year rather than a boom year for solar farms in Romania.

“There are already major companies looking at the Romanian market and I think the first transactions will be announced in the coming period,” says Paul Voicu, managing partner of IBCOenerg consultancy.

IBCOenerg is a family business set up in 1999, whose shareholders are Gheorghe Voicu, an energy specialist with over 45 years’ experience, and sons Doru and Paul Voicu.

Awaiting major investors

The solar energy market now basically needs what the wind farm market needed when it took off: heavyweight names. In just two years’ time the wind farm market attracted investments of over EUR1.5 billion, with around 1,000 MW currently functional in Romania, as opposed to just 14 MW at the end of 2009. The major sponsors of this growth were Czech-held CEZ, Italy’s Enel and Energias de Portugal.

The solar park market is now at the level of the wind farm market in 2009, with just two projects installed, according to available information, with a total capacity of 2 MW, located in Scornicesti and Singureni (southern Romania), both installed by Cypriot group Renovatio, which also has a solar panel plant in Satu Mare (NW Romania).

“I think realistically speaking around 100-200 MW will be installed this year, but I don’t think it will be enough to draw a conclusion. We are talking about a test year rather than a boom year. After the law was approved, everybody expected a boom of the solar photovoltaic segment, but the financing problem and the uncertainties over the evolution of green certificate prices is toning down investment appetite,” Voicu explained. He says the adoption of the support scheme was good news, but came at a time when market circumstances are not favorable.

“A heightened interest has been seen as of March, but the first major transactions will be the ones to give confidence in the market. Currently it is hard to say whether we will see a boom,” Voicu explained.

Despite the financing obstacles, solar energy has a few advantages that could draw investors, aside from the extremely generous support scheme. One of them is that the development of wind farm projects has reached saturation.

“For a solar project, on site measurements are not needed, as opposed to wind farms, and such a project can be built from scratch in one year (much less than a wind farm i.e.). However, the process of developing and authorizing solar projects is a complex one,” said the representative of IBCOenerg.

Though tentatively, things have started to budge. “There is already commotion on the market towards obtaining the appropriate land for solar projects.” One major advantage it has over wind farm projects is its good potential for installing solar parks.

Moreover, the rooftops of large buildings, such as shopping centers and industrial platforms, can be turned into producers of green energy by installing solar panels on rooftops.

While each MWh of wind energy is supported through two green certificates, each priced at EUR55 at present, for solar energy investors received 6 green certificates at the end of last year. Basically for each MWh of energy produced by a solar park, an investor now gets almost EUR380, i.e. the value of six green certificates plus the market price of one MWh. This means an investment in a solar park is recovered in around 4 years, a very short time, which raises question marks as to the support scheme possibly overcompensating investors.

(English version by Daniela Stoican)

Sources : ZF

By Roxana Petrescu

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