June 30 (SeeNews) - Romania's energy ministry said that it signed a financing agreement worth 1.28 billion lei ($281.5 million/257.8 million euro) with with local electricity producer Societatea Electrocentrale Craiova for the construction of a 295 MW natural gas-fired cogeneration power plant.
The financing is part of Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and 825.8 million lei out of the total sum are non-reimbursable funds, the energy ministry said in a press release on Thursday.
“The investment at Craiova is designed to benefit from the newest relevant technologies, ensuring that all of Craiova’s residents have safe access to thermal power and electricity with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,” energy minister Sebastian Burduja said.
The power plant in the southern city of Craiova will replace existing coal-based generation capacities and contribute to reaching power and climate targets in Romania’s 2021-2030 Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (INECP). The project will reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, falling below the 250 gCO2/kWh emission limit related to the useful power output.
The investment will also ameliorate the challenges Electrocentrale Craiova is facing, securing an adequate power supply according to the needs of the community.
Electrocentrale Craiova was founded in August 2022 as a result of a spin-off process of the Craiova II power plant from the state-owned coal-based electricity producer Complexul Energetic Oltenia (CE Oltenia), according to the website of local investment fund Fondul Proprietatea [BSE:FP] which owns a 21.56% stake in the company.
CE Oltenia is undergoing a restructuring process that was approved by the European Commission in January 2022 and is targeting the phase-out of lignite-based electricity production facilities.
Fondul Proprietatea shares traded 0.1% higher at 1.958 lei as at 1118 CET on Friday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.9644 lei)
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