Romania will have an installed wind energy capacity of 2,400 MW in end-2013

Romania will have an installed wind power capacity of around 2,400 MW in end-2013, below the initial estimates of 3,000 MW, the President of the Romanian Wind Energy Association (AREE), Ionel David, told a specialized debate.

‘In no more than three years, from 2009, when we had only 14 MW of installed wind power capacity, Romania managed to reach up to 1,905 MW in 2012. We had almost 1,000 MW installed in 2012, about one turbine daily. According to our calculations back then, this year we should have reached up to 3,000 MW. However, we will probably stop somewhere at 2,400 MW. This means that we are making a progress of around 500 MW, which is not small afterall, since it’s based entirely on contracts that were signed before January 1, 2013, when it became obvious that the government intended to completely change the law on renewable energy’, said David. According to him, Romania’s potential in terms of wind energy is huge.

‘Only Scotland has the same excellent conditions for using the wind power as Romania, with an annual average wind speed in Dobrogea (Southeastern region) of 7.2 m/s and a very low population density, which makes that the number of turbines to be very big’, he specified.

The AREE President estimated that 9 percent of the electric power production in Romania comes from sources of wind energy, following in 2014 to most probably reach up to and even exceed 10 percent.
Moreover, he referred to the fact that investments in the renewable field in Romania totaled 4 billion euros, this being the largest project after the anticommunist revolution of 1989.