Renewables developer CWP and Mercuria Energy Trading have joined forces to complete development and build out CWP’s 2GW portfolio in south-east Europe.
CWP’s project portfolio has been in active development since 2018 and consists of more than 2GW of large-scale wind, solar, and battery storage projects across Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine.
Mercuria’s investment in CWP Europe will enable the developer to realise its €1.9bn investment plan over the next several years.
“We see a tremendous opportunity in these markets, where a massive amount of expensive and polluting coal needs to be replaced with renewables as quickly as possible,” said Dimitar Enchev, CWP Europe CEO.
“This is the only way to achieve decarbonisation targets, keep power prices in check in the long run, and maintain the region’s economic competitiveness. Partnering with Mercuria will allow us to supercharge our already ambitious plans.”
CWP has already developed the largest wind farms in Serbia – the 156MW Cibuk project – and Romania – the 600MW Fantanele-Cogealac project.
CWP is also one of Australia’s largest renewable energy developers, having realised 760MW of capacity, with another 2.5GW of wind, solar, and storage under development in a joint venture with Partners Group.
Mercuria said that it can being its power market trading experience to CWP Europe to optimise the developer’s portfolio of renewable energy assets, better manage market exposure, and develop structured transactions to enhance its product offering to corporate clients.
Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine are Europe’s most carbon-intensive energy markets, with coal still playing a dominant position.