Slovenia's GEN-I Sonce has awarded Romanian EPC contractor WALDEVAR Energy the engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 55 MW / 220 MWh battery energy storage system in Gheorgheni, Romania — the largest single project in the GEN-I group and its first EPC contract in the country.
Scope: 220 MWh grid-scale battery, live by Q3 2027
Under the agreement, WALDEVAR Energy will deliver the full EPC scope for the 55 MW / 220 MWh Gheorgheni BESS, covering engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing and commissioning, with commercial operations targeted for the third quarter of 2027. The project builds on the pair's earlier deal for the Gheorgheni 110 kV / 63 MVA substation signed earlier in 2026.
GEN-I's first EPC deal in Romania
GEN-I Sonce, the largest turnkey solar developer in Slovenia and part of the GEN-I energy group, framed the deal as a template for a scalable model of battery-storage delivery across Central and Eastern Europe. Managing board members said Gheorgheni is the "largest and most important project" in the group's history and the anchor for its wider 1 GW-by-2030 renewables build-out.
WALDEVAR's growing Romanian storage pipeline
WALDEVAR Energy, headquartered near Bucharest, has now delivered or contracted more than 3.5 GW of renewables projects. The company is also mid-way through grid-forming BESS work at global scale, and follows ACWA Power's 6,000 MWh Saudi mega-signings as evidence that utility-scale storage procurement is now moving through EPC contractors rather than IPPs alone.
Why it matters
Romania's grid is short of flexibility and interconnection headroom as new solar and wind capacity comes online, and 220 MWh of dispatchable storage in Harghita County is precisely the kind of asset the country needs to keep pace with its 2030 renewables targets. It also cements WALDEVAR as one of the region's go-to EPC partners for grid-scale batteries, complementing its ongoing solar builds for investors chasing hybrid PV-plus-storage projects.
Reporting based on coverage from WALDEVAR Energy, GEN-I Sonce, Energy Storage News, CEENERGYNEWS and Renewables Now.