Enel Romania Output To Exceed 1,800 MW

Italian-based energy company Enel is planning to become a vertically integrated operator on the Romanian market and begin electricity production in the near future. Carlo Tamburi, the Director of the International Division of Enel S.p.A., told a seminar on energy investment opportunities that the company had energy production projects for units totalling some 1,800 MW installed power.

He added that the wind energy production facility in Dobruja was the most advanced project. The total installed power of the facility will be approximately 200 MW. The first wind turbines will be commissioned for production in 2010. The investment is performed following the acquisition of the developer Blue Line.

Enel"s most expensive projects are related to coal-fired electricity production units equipped with highly efficient technologies. Enel and E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH have set up a consortium that will associate with Termoelectrica for a green/brownfield project in Braila. Concurrently, Enel, Global International 2000 and Romelectro intend to build a greenfield thermal power plant in Galati with an estimated capacity of 800 MW. The project is in an early phase, where a suitable location is being sought. Enel also holds 9.15% in the project management company that will build the third and fourth reactors of the Cernavoda Nuclear Plant. The two reactors will have an installed capacity of 1,400 - 1,500 MW.

According to Enel Romania CEO Matteo Codazzi, the ongoing financial crisis is not threatening Enel"s planned investments in Romania. "The regulated unit price for electricity distribution and supply provides us with sufficient revenues to make the 700 million EUR investments in the grid planned for the following five years. The financing scheme has not been defined for the plants in Braila and Galati. We will do so as of 2010," he said.

In turn, Carlo Tamburi explained that the construction of a coal-fired plant would usually take four years, plus one preliminary year for creating the project and obtaining the necessary permits. He stressed that Enel had sufficient financial resources for all the investment plans announced for Romania and the rest of the region. In his opinion, the international financial crisis should calm down in end-2010.

With 2.5 million customers, a 93,000 km. grid and some 5,500 employees, Enel is the most important private investor in the Romanian electricity distribution and supply sector. The company has a 30% share of the market, close to that of the State-run Electrica S.A.