"This project completes the construction of the largest photovoltaic park in Europe. We are talking about a storage station that will be built on 20 hectares in the territory of Grăniceri commune. Here there will be, on concrete platforms, batteries the size of cargo containers. It will be the largest renewable energy storage capacity in Europe, and the investment will amount to approximately € 200 million, in addition to the € 800 million investment in the Pilu - Grăniceri photovoltaic park", said the mayor, according to Agerpres, public news agency.
According to the mayor, the construction of the photovoltaic park, announced last year by the investors and the authorities in Arad, will begin in July-August.
"The land on which the photovoltaic park will be built, covering an area of 1,064 hectares, has been removed from the agricultural circuit. The Ministry of Agriculture issued a favourable opinion in this regard, and the Directorate for Agriculture Arad issued the decisions. The PUZ will be approved by the Grăniceri Local Council in the meeting on March 15, and in parallel, the investors are working on the documentation to obtain from us the building permit. The investor confirmed to me, in the last conversations I had, that he is already working on the technical project of the future park. We estimate that in May-June we will issue the building permit, and in July-August, the work on the construction site will begin", declared the mayor of Grăniceri commune.
He stated that at the moment work is being done on the ground for the archaeological unloading, with excavations taking place. After their completion, approval from the Ministry of Culture is awaited.
For his part, the mayor of the Pilu commune, Dan Lucian Drăgan, said that the Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) for the project is to be approved and that the investor has informed him that he will soon submit the documentation for obtaining the building permit.
At the end of November 2022, investors and county authorities presented the project of the largest photovoltaic park in Europe, which will have a capacity of 1,044 MW and would become operational in December 2024.
"Here our plans are becoming reality. I chose this county and the location of the project, taking into account the established infrastructure and the logistics possibilities. It is the largest photovoltaic park in Europe. By December 2024, we want to deliver the first amount of energy to the network", declared, at the time, Sebastian Enache, representative of the Monsson developer.
He added that the project includes one of the largest vocational training centres in the area, and at least 1,000 people will work daily to build the park. Later, upon completion of the works, up to 200 people will be employed for operation and maintenance.
Sebastian Enache revealed that Monsson has about 2,000 MW in the project for Arad county, and two more photovoltaic parks will be built, starting in 2024, in the area of Chişinău-Criş and Macea, which together will have about 800 MW. These two parks would be completed in 2026, the investments being around € 600 million.
The three projects in Arad county developed by Monsson would mean total investments of € 1.4 billion, to which is added €200 million invested in the storage station at Grăniceri.
The investor's representative, Marian Pavel, had specified in the autumn that the investments are exclusively private and do not benefit from any kind of fiscal facilities from the state. Part of the money needed to finance the projects is obtained from credits.
Monsson has been a major player in renewable energy and water since 2004, with over 7,000 MW of projects under development.
