VERBUND commissions 100 MW wind farm in Romania

Following a development phase of more than four years and a construction period of approx. one year, VERBUND, Austria’s leading electricity company, is commissioning the 100 MW wind farm of Casimcea I, close to Romania’s Black Sea Coast. A further wind farm of approx. 100 MW is under construction.

This important milestone signalises the successful commissioning of the hitherto largest of VERBUND’s planned and realised wind farms. The wind farm lies approx. 250 km to the east of Bucharest, close to the Romanian Black Sea Coast. There, similar wind conditions prevail to those of the German North Sea Coast, with optimal conditions for the implementation of a project of this size. With immediate effect, 43 Enercon E-82 turbines with a hub height of 108 metres annually produce around 240 GWh of electricity. Approx. 155,000 Romanian households are therewith supplied with clean wind power. Parallel to the construction of the Casimcea I wind farm, VERBUND erected a 750 MVA transformer station and therewith ensured the feeding in of clean wind power to the Romanian power grid. Whilst the first 100 MW are now entering the grid, a second wind farm with a capacity of 100 MW is in construction; completion is envisaged for the following year. Until 2016, a total of some 340 million Euro are earmarked for the wind farms in Romania within the approved VERBUND investment plan, two thirds of the focus of which lies on Austrian water, wind and grid projects.

Wind energy supplements hydropower

With the commissioning of this Romanian wind farm, VERBUND is consolidating its position in the wind energy sector. "Wind energy is the perfect supplement to hydropower and has the highest degree of competitiveness among all of the new forms of renewable energy," commented VERBUND CEO Wolfgang Anzengruber. "We opted for an investment in Romania because of the outstanding wind conditions and the prevailing good general framework. With the commissioning of the 100 MW wind farm, VERBUND is once again underlining the great importance of wind energy in the pan-European generation portfolio," expanded Anzengruber further.

Just a few days ago, VERBUND acquired five wind farms in Germany with a total capacity of approx. 86 MW. Situated in Rhineland-Palatinate, these wind farms will join the grid from the end of 2012 until mid 2013. VERBUND is pushing ahead with the implementation of onshore wind power projects in Austria and the VERBUND target markets in the rest of Europe, and currently operates, either itself or via joint ventures, wind farms with a total capacity of some 450 MW.