Tupras has agreed to buy a 214 MW solar project in Romania from Econergy for $35.46 million. That works out at about $0.17 million per MW, near the bottom of what Romanian solar projects have sold for. The project is well advanced, but it is not ready to build. The contract is written around that gap.
Key takeaways
- Tupras, through its subsidiary Entek Electricity Production, announced on 14 June 2024 that it had signed an agreement to acquire the 214 MW Niculesti solar project in Dambovita County, Romania, from Econergy.
- The Niculesti solar deal carries a total consideration of $35.46 million for 100% of the project, or about $0.17 million per MW.
- Tupras' subsidiary Enspire is buying two Econergy companies: Eco Sun Niculesti, which holds the project's permits, some of them still in application, and Euromec-Ciocanari, which owns the land.
- Completion of the Niculesti acquisition depends on regulatory approvals and on completing the permits needed for construction readiness, with closing expected by 31 January 2025 and operation expected in December 2026.
- Enerdatics estimates that power from the Niculesti solar project will be sold on Romania's merchant market rather than under a fixed-price contract.
What exactly is Tupras buying?
Two companies rather than a power plant. Enspire, a wholly owned subsidiary of Entek Electricity Production, is buying 100% of Eco Sun Niculesti and 100% of Euromec-Ciocanari. Each is a special purpose vehicle, a company set up to hold one part of a single project so that it can be bought and sold cleanly.
The split between the two is telling. One company holds the permits. The other owns the land the plant will sit on. Buying both gives Tupras control of the two things a solar project cannot exist without, before a single panel has been installed.
For Econergy, the sale fits a stated plan to earn money in several ways at once: by selling electricity, by selling projects and by providing management and construction services. Developing a project to an advanced stage and then selling it is one of those revenue lines. Deloitte acted as financial advisor and CMS as legal advisor to Tupras, while Kommunalkredit acted as exclusive M&A advisor to Econergy.
Why does the deal depend on permits?
Because the project is not yet ready to build, and the contract makes that the buyer's protection. A ready-to-build project has every permit and approval it needs for construction to start. Niculesti is described as being in an advanced stage of development, but some of its permits are still in the application process.
The agreement deals with that directly. Completion depends on regulatory approvals and on completing the permits needed for construction readiness. If those permits do not arrive, the deal does not close on its current terms. That conditionality places much of the permitting risk with the seller until completion.
Timing reflects the same logic. Closing was expected by 31 January 2025, more than seven months after signing. Operation is expected in December 2026. Between those dates sits the construction programme, which falls to the new owner once the project is its own.
Seen this way, a price of about $0.17 million per MW buys permits and land. It does not buy panels, inverters or construction work.
How will the Niculesti project sell its power?
Enerdatics estimates it will sell on Romania's merchant market, meaning at wholesale prices that change hour to hour rather than under a long-term fixed-price contract. Leap sets out three reasons for that estimate.
First, corporate power purchase agreements are still new in Romania. The country banned them in 2012, began easing the ban in 2020 and lifted it fully in 2022. Some buyers have since signed, including a 25-year corporate PPA for a 42.9 MW Romanian solar plant, but the route remains relatively new for solar.
Second, state support was only beginning to arrive. Romania was due to hold its first contracts for difference auction in 2024. A contract for difference is a state-backed contract that pays a generator the gap between a fixed strike price and the market price. The European Commission had also approved a $3.2 billion package from the Modernisation Fund for 5 GW of solar and wind.
Third, some generators are choosing the market on purpose. Volatile power prices have led independent producers to prefer wholesale sales over fixed-price contracts or regulatory incentives. In March 2024, the EBRD announced financing for its first fully merchant solar project in Romania.
Enerdatics records 30 Romanian solar M&A deals announced between January 2023 and June 2025, of which 14 carry a disclosed value. Among priced acquisitions of projects still under development, values fall into two bands. A low band runs from about $0.11 million to $0.17 million per MW: OMV Petrom's 708 MW Theia cluster for $92 million, PNE's 208 MWp sale to TotalEnergies for $25 million, Metlen's 211 MW sale to HELLENiQ ENERGY for $26.5 million, OMV Petrom's 50% of Renovatio's 130 MW portfolio for $7.3 million grossed up to the whole, and Tupras' Niculesti. A high band runs from about $0.78 million to $1.10 million per MW, including ENNA grupa's $68.22 million for the 87.52 MW Giurgiu I project, DTEK's $125 million for the 126 MW Vacaresti park, MET Group's $80 million for an 80 MW ready-to-build project and NEPI Rockcastle's $55 million for a 50 MW park. Nofar Energy's $131.65 million for a 255 MW project, about $0.52 million per MW, sits between the two. At about $0.17 million per MW, Niculesti is at the top of the low band. These per-MW figures use headline values and may cover different scopes.
What does the deal signal for Romanian solar?
It signals that the gap between Romania's two price bands is largely a gap in what each buyer takes on. Deals in the low band tend to buy rights and leave the building to the purchaser. Deals in the high band sit closer to finished or ready-to-build assets. OMV Petrom has bought at the low end twice, most recently when it paid $7.3 million for half of Renovatio's solar portfolio, and Tupras now joins it there.
It also shows how differently the same seller's projects can be priced. Less than a year before Niculesti, Metlen let a 211 MW Romanian portfolio go for $26.5 million, and later agreed a far higher price per MW in PPC's 2 GW Mytilineos solar deal, a build-transfer arrangement in which the seller builds the plants before handing them over. Who carries construction risk probably explains most of that difference.
Finally, it shows how much Romanian solar now depends on buyers who can live with market prices. A purchaser of a development-stage project with no fixed-price contract and an expected merchant route is betting on its own ability to manage price risk. For a buyer with the balance sheet to build and hold, the low entry price is the reward for taking that bet.
Frequently asked questions
What did Tupras buy from Econergy in June 2024? Tupras, through Entek Electricity Production and its subsidiary Enspire, agreed to buy 100% of two companies that hold the permits and land for the 214 MW Niculesti solar project in Dambovita County, Romania.
How much did Tupras pay for the Niculesti solar project? The total consideration is $35.46 million, or about $0.17 million per MW for the 214 MW project.
When is the Niculesti solar project expected to operate? Operation is expected in December 2026. Closing of the acquisition was expected by 31 January 2025, subject to approvals and to completing the permits needed for construction readiness.
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