10.02.2023
THE FIRST FLOATING WIND TURBINE IN THE BLACK SEA WILL BE ON BULGARIAN TERRITORY
The first floating wind turbine in the Black Sea, designed by the French company Eolink, will be manufactured by the Romanian GSP Offshore, reports Romania Insider.
The turbine will be tested in Bulgarian territorial waters as part of an EU-funded project. The BLOW (Black sea Floating Offshore Wind) project starts this month with a budget of 21 million euros, of which over 15 million euros will come from the EU under the Horizon Europe program. The project should last 5 years until the end of 2027.
The green investment includes 16 participants, uniting the efforts of research and business organizations, among which is the University of Mining and Geology in Sofia. It aims to exploit the floating offshore wind potential of the Black Sea by installing a demonstration system with a capacity of 5 megawatts off our coast.
The wind turbine is being developed by the French engineering company Eolink. The floating structure will be manufactured by Romania's GSP Offshore in Constanta and should be ready by 2025. The company, led by Gabriel Comanescu, will transport the turbine to the mooring area. The investment is in the amount of about 12.56 million euros.
The floating wind turbine will be used to power a gas platform in the Black Sea operated by oil and gas company Petroceltic. The turbine will be fitted with a larger rotor to generate more power in areas with low wind, Eolink said.
"The aim of this specific project is to demonstrate the competitiveness of floating offshore wind in areas with lower wind with the deployment of a large diameter rotor. Winning this funding has allowed us to take a step forward towards our ultimate goal: offering a viable energy source with the lowest possible carbon emissions," Eolink founder and CEO Marc Guyot said in a statement.
The floating turbine in Bulgaria will be Eolink's second in Europe after a similar project in France, which is expected to be connected to the French electricity grid by 2024.
"The World Bank's 2021 report shows that there is huge technical potential in South East Europe, with a staggering 166 gigawatts of floating offshore energy in the Black Sea alone, equivalent to 5 times the electricity consumption of Bulgaria and Romania. Through this project, we hope to catalyze offshore development in the region, which already has offshore wind projects currently under construction in Romania," says Eolink Commercial Director Alain Mori.
An energy island between Bulgaria and Romania
In the future, the wind turbine may become part of the so-called "energy island" to be developed jointly by Romania and Bulgaria. With joint efforts, the two countries can solve the problem of connecting a large amount of offshore wind power to their electricity grid, says a new report by the Energy Policy Group (EPG), a Bucharest-based independent think tank that deals with energy and climate policies.
"The Romanian-Bulgarian Energy Island would be an effective and scalable solution to unlock large-scale deployment of offshore wind energy as well as valuable interconnection capacity with other Black Sea countries (such as Turkey, Georgia, as well as Azerbaijan further east), drastically improving energy security and contributing to regional price stability," the think tank's report said.
The total capital expenditure allocated to Romania in a joint energy island project with Bulgaria, including 3 gigawatts of offshore wind farms, would be €8.4 billion, with €810 million representing Romania's share of the energy island, while the resulting annual energy production would calculated at 9.8 terawatt hours, EPG claims.
An eventual energy island in the Black Sea basin – which EPG says could also connect future offshore wind power from other countries around the basin – already has a good foundation: the recently announced high-voltage submarine cable linking Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Hungary, according to experts.
New hydroelectric plants between Bulgaria and Romania
The energy cooperation between Romania and Bulgaria has recently been very active and there are other joint projects. The two countries also plan to build two hydroelectric plants along the Danube River to be used jointly on the model of the "Iron Gate" hydroelectric plants used jointly by Romania and Serbia.
The first 840 MW co-generation plant will be located between Nikopol in Bulgaria and Turnu Magurele in Romania, with feasibility studies and evaluation already in place as a basis.
The second plant is slated to be located in Silistra, Bulgaria and near Calaras, Romania, but exploration there is only now beginning.
