January 13 (SeeNews) - Romania and Bulgaria can potentially join hands to build 3 GW of offshore wind farms each in the Black Sea, independent Romanian energy and climate policy think-tank Energy Policy Group (EPG) said.
The potential project off Shabla in northeastern Bulgaria and Constanta in Romania would command a total capital expenditure estimated at 8.4 billion euro ($9.1 billion) for Romania, of which 810 million would be the country's share of an artificial Romanian-Bulgarian energy island, EPG said in a report published last week.
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The energy island would generate an estimated 9.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year. The installation of 3 GW of offshore wind power in Romania could generate 6.3 billion euro or 2.6% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021. It would also contribute to the creation of 22,000 jobs, if Romania manages to attract investments in the manufacturing of wind-turbine components and in the construction, installation and balance of the facility, the think-tank said.
An artificial Romanian-Bulgarian energy Island would unlock large-scale offshore wind development and will boost the interconnection capacity with other countries in the Black Sea region, including Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan further afield, the non-profit organisation said. This could be supported by a recent agreement between Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Hungary to explore the construction of a submarine cable to carry power from renewable sources.
"Backed by EU instruments, joint regional planning and joint development between Romania and Bulgaria, offshore wind in the Black Sea can kickstart and achieve the needed economies of scale to make offshore wind a major enabler of decarbonisation in Romania and Southeast Europe," EPG noted.
($ = 0.9246 euro)