The 9th edition of Wind Open Day, an event organized by the Romanian Wind Energy Association – RWEA, was scheduled to take place around World Wind Day in Galați County. The event highlighted two wind projects at different stages of development: Green Breeze, a 99.2 MW project nearing commissioning, and Ansthall, a 96 MW project where construction is currently underway. The two wind farms visited are representative of the new wave of investment in Romania’s wind energy sector and provide useful insights into its impact.

Energynomics’ analysis identified approximately 150 wind projects nationwide with capacities exceeding 5 MW, currently in various stages of implementation. Most are in the early stages, and out of a total of over 20 GW, approximately 2.5 GW are slated for the county of Galați, where we identified about 30 wind projects. Eurowind recently began testing its 48 MW project in Pecineaga, and Alerion is ready to begin construction on a 120 MW project in Tulucești.

Wind Open Day is designed as a gathering of industry representatives, government officials, investors, technology providers, contractors, journalists, and local community representatives. Liviu Gavrilă, vice president of RWEA, spoke about the importance of wind energy in the energy mix and in everyday life. It is a day when “we celebrate wind energy and the benefits it brings,” he said, noting that Romania needs not only new projects but also effective implementation on the ground.

Development and investment

Lăcrămioara Diaconu-Pințea, Country Manager for OX2 Romania, explained that Wind Open Day is, above all, an opportunity to see “what goes on behind the scenes” once a wind farm begins generating energy. The projects visited total nearly 200 MW, which, according to the OX2 representative, accounts for approximately 30% of the wind capacity currently under construction in Romania.

Green Breeze, the project in the most advanced stage, generated its first kWh on the day of the event. “Today we generated our first kWh,” said Lăcrămioara Diaconu-Pințea, marking the transition from the construction phase to the testing and commissioning phase. The wind farm is ready for operational connection, and the first turbines were already energized at the time of the visit.

Ansthall, the second project visited, is being developed by OX2 for HELLENiQ Renewables Romania. Mihai Darie, Country Manager of HELLENiQ Renewables Romania, presented the project’s key figures: 15 state-of-the-art Vestas turbines, 96 MW of installed capacity, and an estimated average annual production of approximately 310 GWh. The project is scheduled to be commissioned next year, and its entry into commercial operation will strengthen HELLENiQ Renewables’ portfolio in Romania. Mihai Darie described Ansthall as part of a broader strategy for investing in renewables. HELLENiQ Renewables Romania has a portfolio of approximately 850 MW in various stages of development, construction, and operation, with announced investments of up to 1 billion euros by 2030. The company’s presence in Romania is, in this regard, “the long-term commitment of a strategic investor,” he said.

Lăcrămioara Diaconu-Pințea emphasized that a wind project begins long before any visible work on the ground. It takes years of wind studies, approvals, permits, contracts, turbine procurement, and infrastructure work. “Seven years,” she said, are often needed for a turbine to progress from the concept stage to the point where it can generate energy.

Tehnology

For the wind power industry, these two projects are also significant because of the technology they employ. Florin Ioan Constantinescu, Customer Relationship Manager at Vestas, presented the turbines from the EnVentus platform as state-of-the-art technology, designed for high efficiency and long-term operation. The installed turbines have a capacity of 6.2 MW, nearly double that of many of the turbines installed in Romania’s first wave of wind power projects. The tower is 125 meters tall, and the rotor diameter is 162 meters.

Vestas provides not only the turbines but also long-term service support. Florin Ioan Constantinescu explained that for such projects, maintenance contracts spanning 30 to 35 years are signed, and turbine availability must exceed 98%. “The turbine must generate power day and night,” he said, emphasizing that a wind farm’s performance depends not only on its installation but also on its continuous, safe, and reliable operation.

In Romania, Vestas has over 1.7 GW under service contracts and a significant regional infrastructure, with a regional headquarters in Bucharest, service centers in Medgidia, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Tulcea, Galați, and Bârlad, as well as a training center in Mihail Kogălniceanu. In the Galați area, the company operates a local office that also includes a warehouse, supporting rapid response to wind farms in the region.

EPC

In addition to the turbines, Wind Open Day also highlighted the civil engineering infrastructure, without which a wind farm cannot operate. Alin Constantinescu, General Manager of Lemacons, presented the status of the work at Ansthall: approximately 85% complete, 12 of 15 foundations poured, and about 24 km of gravel roads, with approximately 95% of the work completed. “We have three more weeks,” he said regarding the completion of the foundations, with the next phase set to include medium-voltage cables and connection points.

Lemacons is responsible for a key portion of the fieldwork: foundations, roads, platforms, cable networks, and site infrastructure. These elements are rarely mentioned in public discussions about renewables, but they are essential for turbine installation and the project’s subsequent operation.

Green Breeze was also presented with the contribution of CJR Renewables. Lucian Safta, Regional Business Development Manager for CEE at CJR Renewables, spoke about the company’s return to the Romanian renewable energy market with this new wave of projects. CJR was also active during the first investment cycle, between 2008 and 2014, during which time it built nearly 1 GW of wind farms. “The second wave is coming,” said Lucian Safta, explaining that Green Breeze was a key project in the company’s return to this market.

Automation and grid connection

Another critical component of the projects is the electrical infrastructure. Răzvan Copoiu, Deputy CEO of Enevo Group, explained the company’s role in building substations, implementing automation systems, and connecting to the grid. The energy produced by the turbines is collected at medium voltage, then stepped up to 110 kV and transported via underground cable to the connection substations before being integrated into the Transelectrica grid.

“We took the electricity from the turbines and fed it into the national grid,” summarized Răzvan Copoiu, describing a highly complex technical process in simple terms. For the Green Breeze project, Enevo completed work that would normally take two to three years in about a year and a half, Copoiu said. Grid connection remains one of the most critical stages for new renewable energy projects, and collaboration with Transelectrica is essential for completing these investments.

The new wave of wind energy in Romania is different from the one that began more than a decade ago. The technology is more advanced, the turbines are larger, the contractual chain is more complex, the grid connection requirements are more sophisticated, and expectations regarding availability and system integration are higher. At the same time, the projects depend on close coordination among investors, developers, turbine suppliers, contractors, engineering firms, local authorities, and the transmission operator.