Eight licenses for alternative energy in 2006 Romania

Romania’s power market regulator, National Authority for Energy Settlement (ANRE), issued last year eight licenses allowing electricity production from renewable sources, according to an ANRE report on 2006.

ANRE granted 52 licenses for the production, distribution and supplying of electricity in 2006. Some 12 licenses were granted for the production of electricity, out of which four were given for the production of electricity coming from fossil fuels. The rest were given for the production of electricity coming from renewable sources.

Last year, ANRE granted 11 licenses for the production of electricity, out of which six were granted for the production of electricity from renewable sources. The government, in June, changed rules for issuing energy licenses and increased five-fold the minimum amount an applicant needs to have, to 500,000 euros.

The new law approved by the government contributes to the strengthening of the business environment by raising standards regarding the viability of economic operators that can receive licenses to deliver electricity in order to protect potential clients. The law was modified so that new applicants receive similar treatment as current ones.

Renewable energy in Romania: 24.8m lei for 3 projects

Romania's Environment Fund Administration (AFM) decided to grant for the first time 24.8 million lei for three projects regarding renewable energy and is now waiting for the approval of the European Commission, AFM president, Mihai Toti said.

AFM will finance a biomass project with 4.6 million lei, a project for producing electricity with 18.4 million lei and a micro-water plant project with 1.8 million lei. The projects have been approved by the Competition Council and will also be sent to Brussels for further approval.

AFM has also approved three projects for planting trees. The projects eye areas with problems such as Tulcea county, near the Black Sea and Timis county, in western Romania. These projects will receive 263,000 lei, 445,000 lei and 272,000 lei.

Environment Minister Attila Korodi, said at the beginning of August that one of the measures to encourage usage of the renewable energy potential would be to open a financing line for individuals.

Biogas - Biodiesel Synergy in North Western Romania

Biogas Nord AG, Bielefeld has been commissioned to construct a larger biogas plant featuring 2.8 MW of electrical power.

The value of the order is approximately €3.5 million. The ordered biogas plant will be built in the Transylvanian region close to the county town of Oradea. “This order proves that we are successfully proceeding with the internationalization of Biogas Nord AG and that the trend towards larger biogas facilities is continuing”, explains, for Budapest Business Journal, the board director Dr. Holger Schmitz.

Through the operation of this biogas plant, the client would like to make use of synergy effects resulting from the construction of a biodiesel plant, which is also being planned. In so doing, the waste products resulting from the production of biodiesel, such as rapeseed pellets and glycerin, will be brought to the biogas plant as substrates. The warmth produced in addition to the generation of electricity at the biogas plant will then be used for the biodiesel plant.

The plant will also be flexibly designed so that corn silage and porcine liquid manure coming from agricultural operations from the surrounding area can be brought in. The plant consisting of three digesters, two second digesters and three storage containers will allow Biogas Nord to be a reference object for more than just the Romanian market.

“As a result of their site located in the region bordering Hungary, the interest of Hungarian investors will also be spurned”, declares Rainer Thiel, the person responsible for Eastern European marketing at Biogas Nord. “We're currently conducting intensive negotiations with potential customers in both countries.”