Italy’s ERG 300 mln euro renewables spend to target mainly Bulgaria, Romania

Italian group ERG said on Wednesday it plans to invest through 2015 a total of 300 million euro ($395 million) in renewable energy projects, mainly in Bulgaria and Romania, as it pursues development opportunities in Eastern Europe.

On Tuesday, ERG Renew, a wholly-owned unit of ERG, announced that its 50/50 joint venture with Russia’s LUKOIL-Ecoenergo, LUKERG Renew, has wrapped up the acquisition of an 84 megawatt (MW) wind farm project in Romania.

In Bulgaria and Romania, an increase in installed capacity of around 100 MW is expected to be achieved - in proportion to ERG's interest in LUKERG Renew - to reach a total installed capacity of 1.4 gigawatts by 2015, ERG said in its business strategy for the 2013-2015 period.

ERG plans to invest a total of 500 million euro by 2015 with the bulk of the funds, equivalent to 60% of the overall portfolio, to be spent on renewables, as much as 28% to be allocated for investments in refining and marketing activities and the remaining 12% to be spent on other energy projects.

The ERG Group is active in the sectors coastal refining, integrated downstream, generation and sale of thermoelectric power, steam and gas and, through ERG Renew, in the generation of electricity from renewable sources.

($=0.7588 euro)

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