Energy investors seek power projects

ROMANIA - Foreign firms are renewing interest in building power plants in Balkan countries like Romania but governments will have to show real commitment to liberalizing markets before investors step up funding.

Following decades without investing in power, these nations are boosting efforts to partner projects that expand generation capacity to meet local demand and even potentially fuel future growth through exports.

The challenge, however, is ceding state control of power generation, which for decades has been a convenient political tool to cap prices and to better ensure social stability.

Foreign firms have targeted just about every Balkan country, but for many Romania offers the most opportunity because of a strategic location and potentially large power market.

Romania is seeking to modernize its largely state-owned power generation after years of repeated delays but the cash-strapped country will only be able to do so with the help of outside investment.

"There are very few countries in the region that have what Romania has," said Frank Hajdinjak, the head of the Romanian unit of German utility group E.ON.

"It has its own oil, gas, hydro, coal, nuclear, tremendous potential for renewables and it's strategically located in the region with additional links to other markets. But are we in an investor-friendly environment in Romania right now? Unfortunately not."

That has not stopped firms from moving in but investors and analysts say to really attract a steady stream of funds governments will have to make prices more transparent, speed up project approval and clear away regulatory uncertainty.

Europe's mounting debt crisis has raised fears for the region's economic recovery but Balkan states have no choice but to move forward because funding costs could rise and the infrastructure needs are so critical, analysts say.

"Companies may delay projects by a few months and... they might take longer to pay off, but the infrastructure is so needed in the region that they will move ahead with it," said Michael LaBelle, an independent energy expert based in Budapest.

Large markets and rich energy resources have long beckoned investors to the Balkans where power demand is expected to far exceed output in coming years.

Romania is currently negotiating public-private partnerships worth around 3 billion euros US $3.65 billion, the economy ministry has said, in addition to two more nuclear reactors in the works.

Among the investors interested in developing projects in Romania are Italy's Enel, Czech firm CEZ, France's GDF Suez, AES Corporation, China National Electric Equipment Corporation and Japanese firm Itochu.

Romania also hopes to collect 1-2 billion euros by selling or listing minority stakes in energy firms this year and next. Bulgaria is also attracting hefty renewable energy interest, due to generous incentive schemes.

CEZ is building a 1 billion euro wind park in southern Romania and Iberdrola Renovables said it will have the world's largest wind park there by 2017.

Other Balkan states are also hoping to attract the same kind of funding.

Serbia is looking for strategic partners to invest 9 billion euros in various power projects over the next five years while Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation says it will seek $2.2 billion investment for its power sector.

Austria's EVN and Norway's Statkraft are set to build three hydroelectric plants worth 950 million euros in Albania where the prime minister has invited foreign companies to build power projects.

One international banker who declined to give his name said the Balkan states governments' decisiveness to go ahead with the projects was crucial.

"Visible signs of progress are limited but I am not sure that behind the curtain there aren't things happening which will result in more investment in next year," he said, adding that attracting billions in investment could be too ambitious.

"What will determine the success of these projects will be if somebody focuses on projects, one at a time, instead of trying to do everything at once and instead of announcing for public consumption very large numbers," he said.