Renewable energy project in Călăraşi, started by Tenaris Silcotub SA

In the conditions of the volatility of the energy market after the start of the war in Ukraine by the Russian Federation two years ago, the company Tenaris Silcotub SA will build a photovoltaic park in Calarasi, with a nominal power of 19.8 Megawatts, which will provide 10% of the energy consumption of the production capacities of the respective company, Mihaela Popescu, the president of the company from our country, announced yesterday, during a press conference.

Mihaela Popescu stated: "It is a new experience for our company, we want to see how it will unfold and, depending on the results, we will decide whether we will continue with a new investment in this field. (...) Probably, if the energy market had been stable and the shock produced by the war in Ukraine had not intervened, we would not have started this project, but we had to do it because our energy cost increased by 5 times (we had a 500% increase) and, because we are part of the category of large energy consumers, we did not benefit from any kind of support from the state unlike other consumers or other countries. I think that this project, which we hope to see ready at the end of the current year, is a support for our company and we will see if this kind of project can be a solution regarding the energy we need".

The project regarding the construction of a photovoltaic park for the production of energy from renewable sources is worth 96.94 million lei, of which the maximum non-refundable amount (from European funds - the National Recovery and Resilience Plan - and from the state budget) amounts to 29.088 million lei, the own contribution of Tenaris Silcotub SA being approximately 67.85 million lei. The photovoltaic park will be built on an area of 2.5 hectares of a land with a total area of 21.1 hectares located near the municipality of Călăraşi, land that belongs entirely to the company Tenaris Silcotub SA. The park would produce 30,713 MW/year, and in the 20 years estimated for operation it will generate more than 614,000 MW of electricity.

Part of the electricity produced will be used at the steel mill that the company owns in Călăraşi, a production unit that in 2022 entered the top 15 steel mills in the world thanks to the electric arc furnace it uses and which has a low impact on the amount of CO2 emitted. According to the latest ITS data, the steel mill in Călăraşi has an impact of 47,000 tons of CO2 emitted annually, but the future photovoltaic park will reduce the carbon footprint of the respective factory by 18,971.42 tons of CO2 per year, which represents a considerable decrease in that amount , a fact that will be positively reflected in the reduction of the amounts that the company allocates annually for the purchase of green certificates.

Silcotub SA is the most important Romanian manufacturer of seamless pipes of small diameters and, since 2004, is part of the Tenaris company - one of the world leaders in the production and supply of tubular products and related services for the energy industry, the automotive industry, the oil sector and gases and many other industrial applications, including CO2 capture and new facilities based on the use of hydrogen. The company is present in 9 cities in our country and operates fully integrated production units, from the collection and preparation of scrap metal in Popeşti-Leordeni, Braşov and Iernut, to the processing of steel in Călăraşi and the production of tubular products with high added value in Zalău. Tenaris Silcotub SA also owns a pump rod factory for oil wells in Câmpina and a service center in Ploiesti.