February 23 (SeeNews) - Romanian energy provider Restart Energy said that it plans to invest $30 million (24.7 million euro) in a solar park in the northwestern locality of Sarmasag, Salaj county.
Restart Energy has acquired the project in a "ready-to-build" phase and plans to turn it into a 45MW solar park, the company said in a press release.
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The Sarmasag park will have an annual energy production of 55 million kWh - enough to supply approximately 30,000 households with green energy. By putting it into operation, the release of 1.23 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere during the park's 25-year operation period will be avoided, the company added.
"Construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year and we hope that the first green KWh produced by the sun will be introduced in the network in the first quarter of 2022 at the latest," Restart Energy CEO Armand Domuta said.
Restart aims to create 100 temporary jobs during the construction phase of the park and 15 permanent ones, once the facility is put into operation.
The investment is part of a five-year plan unveiled by the company last month, to develop renewable energy projects in Romania and neighbouring countries with a total capacity of 500MW by the end of 2025. The projects will be developed jointly with Washington, D.C.-based Interlink Capital Strategies and will require annual investments of $100 million, targeting solar, wind, biogas, biomass and geothermal energy sectors, Restart said at the time.
Earlier this month, Restart Energy said it has raised 16.3 million lei ($4 million/ 3.4 million euro) from investors through a green bond placement. The bond issue marked the company's entry into the capital market and is the first step in its development strategy for the next five years.
Established in 2015, Restart Energy is part of Armand Group controlled by Romanian businessman Armand Domuta.
In January, the company said that it plans to grow its revenues by over 83% in 2021, to 220 million lei, and double the number of individual customers to 65,000.
(1 euro=4.8745 lei)