The photovoltaic panel manufacturer Dahai Solar from China already built a factory in southern Romania at Calarasi and expects to start production in August-September this year after the production lines are installed.

The factory involved investments of around EUR 10 million and will have a production capacity of 2,000 MW of photovoltaic panels per year. It will be Romania’s first PV panels production unit with significant capacity.

It will employ around 150, “who will be recruited from Romania and several Eastern European countries,” according to the company.

The company’s representatives expressed plans to use Romania as a production and sales centre for the entire Eastern Europe.

Once completed, the Chinese factory would be the only such unit in Romania with a significant capacity.

Altius Fotovoltaic, developed by a local entrepreneur in Giurgiu County, operated temporarily with a maximum capacity of 1,500 MW (per year), but it was reportedly closed because it couldn’t cope in terms of prices with the Chinese suppliers. Another company, Wattrom, also had an assembly facility, but it also seems only to sell panels now.

Dahai Solar was established in 2011 and now employs more than 1,000 people in four factories with an annual production capacity of 5,000 MW, plus production lines for charging stations, inverters, and batteries.