China invests in wind power at Tulcea

The Chinese Development Bank will financially support the companies in the People's Republic of China to invest in the Romanian wind power sector, the People's Republic of China General Consul in Constanta Wang Tieshan said at Tulcea (eastern Romania) on Friday.

'A delegation of wind energy exploitation experts will come to Romania this month to take the first necessary steps in order to make investments in this field. The companies are backed by the Chinese Development Bank which is to finance the projects,' said the Chinese Consul.

He also added that the projects on building the wind farms are at the feasibility study phase at present.

'We want to jointly develop projects with Romania and in Tulcea, why not' pointed out the Chinese Consul.

Tulcea is among the counties considered to possess the highest potential for wind power, and Romanian as well as foreign companies are in the process of submitting applications in order to carry out 70 wind farms with 1,703 wind turbines. So far, there are only 13 turbines in the county, but the non-governmental organizations are harshly criticizing the investments announced by the private companies, given that the natural habitats are affected and around 80 percent of the county's area is included in the Natura 2000 programme that protects various flora and fauna species.

The investments development in the wind energy sector is one of the topics of interest for the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration and the governor Grigore Baboianu has recently said that 'given that there are 6,000 turbines already in place in Bulgaria, in this part of Romania there are only 300, and we want to have a couple of thousand turbines.'