Rezolv Energy has energised Phase 1 of the VIFOR Wind Farm in Buzău County, marking a major milestone for Romania’s renewable energy sector. With an installed capacity of 192MW, VIFOR Phase 1 is the largest wind project to be energised in Romania in more than a decade. Once Phase 2 is completed in 2027, VIFOR will have a capacity of 461MW, making it one of the highest-capacity onshore wind farms in Europe.
VIFOR Phase 1 comprises 30 EnVentus Vestas V162 turbines, each with a capacity of 6.4MW. The turbines have a tower height of 166 metres and a rotor diameter of 162 metres. Vestas also acted as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner for Phase 1 of the project.
Once fully operational, VIFOR will generate enough electricity to power more than 270,000 homes and avoid approximately 540,000 tonnes of CO₂e emissions annually.
The energising of VIFOR comes at an important moment for Romania’s energy transition. Wind capacity expanded rapidly between 2010 and 2015, after which growth stalled. Romania currently has just over 3GW of installed wind capacity, while its National Energy and Climate Plan targets 7.3GW by 2030. VIFOR Phase 1 marks an important step towards that target and signals the start of a new wave of large-scale wind projects that will help Romania reduce its emissions while strengthening its energy security.
VIFOR Phase 1 was supported by up to €291 million in project financing from a consortium of eight lenders led by Erste Group, UniCredit Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Intesa Sanpaolo Group, OTP Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International and Garanti BBVA Romania. Phase 2 is supported by additional financing facilities of up to €331 million, largely provided by lenders from the first phase.
The project is also supported by six long-term corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) with T-Mobile Czech Republic, Slovak Telekom, CE Colo Czech Republic, Bekaert, A2A and Etem Gestamp. Together, these agreements represent more than 350GWh of clean power per year.
Alastair Hammond, CEO, Rezolv Energy, said: “Rezolv was established to be a leader of the energy transition across Southeastern Europe, so it’s a proud moment to be energising Romania’s largest new wind project in more than a decade. With multiple gigawatts of new wind capacity now in development across the country, we will look back on VIFOR as marking the start of a new era for wind energy in Romania.”
Rezolv Energy has a 2.8GW portfolio of large-scale renewable energy projects in operation, construction or late-stage development across Southeastern Europe. Its portfolio in Romania includes the 1.3GW Dama Solar project in Arad County, which will be the largest solar plant in the European Union when fully operational, and the 600MW Dunarea East & West Wind Farms in Constanța County.