Romania Black Sea Offshore Wind

What's Happening

Romania's Ministry of Energy has proposed three Black Sea perimeters for offshore wind concessions, totalling 3.1 GW — one site at 1,900 MW and two at 600 MW each. The sites were selected under the Romanian Energy Strategy 2025-2035 as suitable for fixed-foundation turbines, using currently available technology, outside the most environmentally sensitive areas. This is the first time Romania has identified concrete, mapped offshore wind sites at this scale, rather than general ambitions, and a draft law for the concession process has been published. The 1,900 MW site closely matches the scale of two projects first announced back in 2022 by wpd offshore: Black Sea 1 (500 MW) and Black Sea 2 (1.4 GW), combining to 1.9 GW in this same stretch of water. wpd's offshore business was acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners in 2022 and rebranded as Skyborn Renewables, which still lists Black Sea development in its project pipeline. Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja has publicly stated he expects Romania's first Black Sea wind farms to become operational in 2027-2028 — an aggressive timeline given no concession auction mechanism has been finalized yet, and two of the three proposed sites currently have no publicly attached developer at all. The 3.1 GW under consideration would, combined, roughly meet Romania's own strategic target of 3 GW of offshore wind by 2035.

NEXT MILESTONE — Finalizing the concession/auction legal framework so the three sites can actually be tendered to developers — the draft law is published but not yet enacted.

SOURCE ↗

Project Timeline

1. Development→
2. Permitting→
3. FEED→
4. Tender→
5. Contract Awarded→
6. Detailed Engineering→
7. Fabrication→
8. Construction→
9. Installation→
10. Commissioning→
11. Operational

Path to Construction

The concrete steps still ahead for this specific project — not just its current phase label.

1. 01Enact the draft concession law, giving the Ministry of Energy legal authority to actually run an auction for the three proposed sites.
2. 02Design and launch the concession/auction mechanism — the specific process developers will bid through (this is what the current news is actually about: preparing the mechanism, not running it yet).
3. 03Run the auction and award concessions for all three sites — the 1,900 MW site already has clear developer interest (Skyborn Renewables); the two 600 MW sites currently have no publicly attached developer at all.
4. 04Awarded developers conduct FEED (front-end engineering design), wind resource assessment, and seabed surveys specific to each site.
5. 05Full environmental and permitting approval finalized per site — offshore wind permitting in the EU typically takes multiple years on its own.
6. 06Financial Investment Decision (FID) and contracts signed for major equipment (turbines) and marine/EPC installation work.
7. 07Fabrication of foundations and turbine components begins.
8. 08Offshore construction and installation.
9. 09Commissioning and grid connection — target operational date per the Energy Minister is 2027-2028, though no site has reached FID yet.

Companies Involved

Hiring Outlook

Sites are only just being proposed and a draft concession law published — no auction, no awarded developer for two of the three sites, and no construction activity. Real hiring is years away, though the concrete site designation is the first real signal this market is moving.

LIKELY DISCIPLINES

This is an MW Daily outlook based on project phase and activity — not confirmed vacancy information.

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