Alina Oprea • 27 November, 2023 at 8:35 AM
WPD, a developer of wind projects in Europe, intends to build a wind farm in Iași County, according to data from the national energy carrier, Transelectrica. The company has been present in Romania for 14 years. The company WPD Romania Wind Farm 07 SRL obtained, last month, the technical approval for connection (ATR) for the construction of a wind farm in Iași county, of approximately 128 MW, according to Transelectrica.
The Butea Eoliana Electric Power Plant (a locality in Iași County, near the towns of Târgu Frumos and Roman) has a deadline for putting it into operation at the end of 2026.
The new plant would be connected to Transelectrica's Roman Nord station. According to Transelectrica, work is needed to strengthen the network in the area, at network elements of Transelectrica, Delgaz Grid, and Hidroelectrica, and some are not included in the investment plans of Delgaz and Hidroelectrica, respectively the re-conduction of 5,110 kV lines in the area and the installation of two 200 MVA autotransformers in the Stejaru station.
If these investments are not made, the WPD park will operate under conditions of operational limitation of the evacuated power.
As far as the Transelectrica infrastructure is concerned, the national operator says that the 220 kV Stajaru-Gheorgheni line needs to be rewired, which is, however, in the company's investment plan, with a completion date of the end of 2025.
As it becomes more and more complicated to install new capacities in Dobrogea - the area with the best wind in Romania, in recent years more investors have turned to the counties of Moldova for the location of wind turbines. Hundreds of MW are under development. The most famous project, which is close to completion, is that of Ukrainians from DTEK, a company controlled by businessman Rinat Akhmetov. It is about the 60 MW wind farm at Ruginoasa in Iași county, which will have the largest turbines installed so far in Romania, 6 MW Vestas units, under construction and which should become operational in the first part of the year future.
WPD has experience in the development, construction, financing, and operation of more than 2,400 wind turbines in Europe and other parts of the world, with a total capacity of 6,110 MW. The group currently employs around 3,200 people, is operational in 28 countries, and is headquartered in Bremen, Germany. With a project portfolio of 15,775 MW onshore, WPD is considered one of the largest wind project developers in Europe.