Oradea to build a solar carpark that powers a geothermal plant

Norway is financing the lion’s share of the project in a bid to increase bilateral business relations and cooperation with Romania

Yesterday, the Romanian city of Oradea announced that they are taking the next step in implementing new green infrastructure. The city will build a photovoltaic car park that will power 80% of the consumption needs of the nearby geothermal plant.

The new project is partially funded by Norway and will service the Polyvalent Hall, a multipurpose indoor arena, as a parking lot covered in solar panels.

The money for Oradea’s green initiative is attracted through the "Energy Program in Romania", aiming to increase the renewable energy expansion in the country. At the same time, the program aims to stimulate and develop business relationships and long-term collaboration between Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Romania, encouraging bilateral partnerships and development projects.

A new way of making car parks

The project requires an investment of 2.1 million euros with around 1.7 coming from Norway and the rest – from the city of Oradea. The money will go towards the construction of a photovoltaic car park with approximately 1,500 solar modules.

The car park will function like a highly  efficient canopy,
Source: City of Oradea

The modules themselves will be mounted on fixed metal structures and will double as canopies, protecting the parked cars from the sun, rain or snow. In the end, the installation should be able to produce close to 0.9 megawatts of electricity.

At the same time, the local geothermal plant, which is still under construction, should require a total of 1.1 megawatts to operate, meaning that the solar car park will greatly reduce the costs of running it.

The Mayor of Oradea, Florin Birta explained that the solar car park will save the power plant up to 80% in energy consumption.

Local authorities in Oradea are supposed to submit the project by 7 September at the latest. After access to the funds is secured, the design and construction will start with the end date for the project set in 2022.