Hidroelectrica put up for sale 31 small hydropower plants with a starting price of 70 million lei, 20% below the amount requested in previous auctions, says Mediafax.

“If in the auctions organized before, the 31 small hydro above were offered for sale at the sum of 83.2 million lei, at the auctions held in November their value dropped to about 70 million lei, so with a reduction of 13 million lei, being applied a discount of up to 20%”, it said in a company press release.

Tenders for units with a total installed capacity of 25.7 MW will be held on 23-26 of November. Assets, divided into 22 packages, are located in the following counties: Suceava, Brașov, Neamt, Sibiu, Vâlcea, Maramureș, Arad, Argeș, Buzău, Vrancea and Bacău. The state company has sold only two of the 34 small hydropower plants auctioned in July, for which it has received nearly 4 million lei.

Călugărița unit, located on Stan Valley river (Argeș County) was purchased by the Archdiocese of Argeș and Muscel, with 1.7 million lei, and the second one, Vlădeşti, located on Olăneşti River basin (Vaâlcea County), was awarded to Roski Air Service, with 2.2 million lei. So far, 28 small hydropower plants have been sold for 79.6 million lei (18 million euros).

Hidroelectrica recorded a record profit in the first half of the year (725 million lei), 42% higher than that reported in the same period last year. Turnover for the first half rose by almost 300 million lei compared to the first 6 months of 2014, and reached 1.85 billion lei.