Romania’s Hidroelectrica picks contractors for 36 MW battery system at its only wind farm

Prime Batteries Technology and Enevo Group won Hidroelectrica’s tender for the installation of a battery energy storage system of 36 MW with a two-hour duration at the power utility’s Crucea Nord wind park.

A renewable energy hub is in the making in the small communes of Crucea and Pantelimon in the Dobruja (Dobrogea) province in Romania’s east. The area is home to state-owned hydropower producer Hidroelectrica’s only wind farm, Crucea Nord, but it includes several sites for projects of other companies, too.

The facility has been operating at a significant loss due to unfavorable balancing requirements. Hidroelectrica launched a small battery first, only to publish a tender four months ago for contractors for a system of 36 MW in operating power and 72 MWh in capacity.

Contract is worth EUR 16 million excluding VAT

The news is that the utility signed a EUR 16 million deal with Prime Batteries Technology and Enevo Group, the consortium with the best bid. The deadline is 12 months. Hidroelectrica initially estimated the investment at EUR 20.3 million plus excluding value-added tax.

Prime Batteries manufactures lithium ion batteries and provides energy storage solutions for the automotive, smart grids, and industrial sectors. The startup is headquartered in Cernica near Bucharest. The other company is Romanian as well.

Primary idea is to reduce imbalances

Crucea Nord, commissioned in 2014, has 108 MW in capacity. The battery energy storage system needs to be built at the substation.

“The primary objective of this investment is to reduce internal imbalances at the wind farm within Hidroelectrica’s portfolio, provide system balancing services for the national energy grid, improve the performance of the wind turbines, and decrease the wear on the electromechanical systems of the turbines,” Hidroelectrica said. It would be its first lithium ion battery.

The company operates 188 hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 6.4 GW.

Romania and neighboring Bulgaria are racing to boost battery capacity within deadlines for subsidies from the European Union. Both achieved robust growth rates in the solar power sector, so balancing needs are also surging.