OMV’s Petrom reveals €100mn wind power investment

OMV’s Romanian subsidiary Petrom is investing 100 million Euros in wind power production, it was announced today (Thurs).Petrom said it acquired the company SC Wind Power Park SRL, which owns a fully authorised wind power generation project, in the south-eastern Romanian town of Dobrogea with a designated capacity of 45 megawatt.Petrom will built and operate the wind power plant, according to a Romanian Times report. The online newspaper also says the plant will start producing energy mid 2011.Patrom CEO Mariana Gheorghe said: “Through this project, we intend to capitalise the flexibility of the Brazi gas-fired power plant. With a portfolio which includes both gas-fired capacities and renewable capacities, we benefit from the strengths of both technologies.”Petrom also said it evaluated the possibility to expand the capacity of the project to 54 megawatt.Gerald Kappes, Petrom Executive Board member, responsible for Gas, Power and Chemicals, said: “For this wind power generation project, we will invest around 100 million Euros, including both acquisition and development.”Petrom is the largest oil and gas group in the country. It explores, produces, refines and markets such products. The firm has 550 petrol stations in Romania and an international network of 268 stations in Moldova, Bulgaria and Serbia. It had a turnover of 3.02 billion Euros in 2009. Vienna-based OMV holds a 51.01 per cent share in Petrom.