Romanian state-owned company Hidroelectrica, the largest electricity producer in Romania, has launched a tender through which it wants to contract works for constructing an electricity storage facility at its Crucea Nord wind farm in Dobrogea, Profit reported.

It took over the farm, with an installed capacity of 108 MW, more than three years ago from the German group STEAG. 

Hidroelectrica is considering a storage facility with a power of 36 MW and a nominal capacity of 72 MWh.

The contract's total value is estimated at RON 101 million (EUR 20 million) plus VAT. 

Last year, Hidroelectrica complained that, due to the regulations and technical norms in force, the Crucea Nord wind farm is forced to operate permanently at only 99% of capacity, with a reserve of 1% of the available power, causing it a financial loss of over EUR 1.9 million in the period 2015-2022. 

The company said adding a storage facility would ″smooth out the imbalances created by the Crucea Nord wind farm between forecasted and produced amounts of energy due to wind-power forecasts.″

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iulian@romania-insider.com