Eleven solar projects with an overall capacity of around 36 MW, which entail over 100 million euros in investments, have contracts to connect to the grid, according to data from Transelectrica (the national electricity transmission company).

Only one of these has become operational this year, with the investor being Cypriot group Renovatio. The same group invested 10 million euros last year in a photovoltaic panel plant in Satu Mare and built wind power farms worth around 400 million euros in partnership with Energias de Portugal.

Compared with the wind power segment, which saw investments of around 800 million euros last year, solar projects are only in their early stages. The main reason for this is that the support scheme to promote these projects, Law 220/2008, is not enforceable unless approved by the European Commission and unless secondary legislation is in place. Since it costs twice as much to invest in the solar power sector as in the wind power sector, most investors prefer to wait for a stable legal framework to be created.

However, there are companies, which decided not to wait any longer. Renovatio, a Cyprus-based group with around 45 million euros in turnover in 2009, says it started operating a 1-MW solar project in Singureni (Giurgiu) at the beginning of this year.

Eleven solar projects with an overall capacity of around 36 MW, which entail over 100 million euros in investments, have contracts to connect to the grid, according to data from Transelectrica (the national electricity transmission company).

Only one of these has become operational this year, with the investor being Cypriot group Renovatio. The same group invested 10 million euros last year in a photovoltaic panel plant in Satu Mare and built wind power farms worth around 400 million euros in partnership with Energias de Portugal.

Com