OMV Petrom will add a 20-MW/40-MWh battery to its Ișalnița solar project in Romania, transforming the development into a hybrid renewable generation and storage facility.
Romanian engineering company Simtel Team will supply the battery under an engineering, procurement and construction contract. Completion is expected about seven months after signing.
The storage system will be paired with OMV Petrom’s first wholly owned large-scale solar plant. The Ișalnița facility in Dolj county will have capacity of about 89 MW and is expected to generate approximately 130 GWh annually.
The battery will allow the company to store part of its daytime solar production and release it when demand or prices are higher. It could also provide balancing and other flexibility services as Romania adds more variable renewable capacity.
OMV Petrom operates the 860-MW Brazi gas-fired power plant and is developing or constructing more than 1.2 GW of renewable capacity with partners. It is also working on the Gabare battery project in Bulgaria, which is expected to provide around 600 MWh of storage.
At Ișalnița, storage changes the project from a price-taking solar asset into a more flexible generation unit. The modest two-hour duration will not cover long supply gaps, but it should help shift production away from low-priced solar hours and improve the site’s exposure to evening demand.
