The latest news is that DAHAI SOLAR, a solar panel manufacturer from China, has built a panel factory in Calarasi, southern Romania. The factory has an investment of approximately 10 million euros and has an annual production capacity of 2,000MW of photovoltaic modules. It will be the first solar panel plant in Romania with significant production capacity.

According to the company, it will employ around 150 people, "who will be recruited from Romania and several Eastern European countries." Company representatives said it plans to use Romania as a production and sales center for all of Eastern Europe.

Once completed, this factory will be the only one in Romania with such big solar panel production capacity.

It is understood that Romania’s local photovoltaic manufacturing is overall insufficient and weak. Altius Fotovoltaic was previously developed and temporarily operated by a local entrepreneur in Giurgiu County, with a maximum production capacity of 1,500MW per year. However, it was reported that it was closed because of the fierce competition to cope with the prices from Chinese suppliers. Another company, Wattrom, also has an assembly plant, but now also seems to only sell solar panels.

Dahai Solar is owned by a central enterprise and is a renewable energy manufacturer. It currently has 4 factories with an annual production capacity of 5,000MW, 10GW silicon wafer production capacity, more than 1,000 employees, and production lines for charging stations, inverters, and batteries.

Information shows that Dahai Photovoltaic was established in 2011 and is a subsidiary of Dahai Group, a state-owned enterprise. It has four major production bases in Daozhuang Headquarters, Laiwu, Guangrao Development Zone, and Dongying Development Zone. It currently has nearly 1,000 employees and an annual output of 5GW of solar modules.

The planned silicon slicing production capacity is 10GW, and it can cut silicon wafers with specifications of 157mm, 166mm, 182mm and 210mm. In addition to the component industry chain, it also produces inverters, batteries and other products.

As a latecomer to Europe's photovoltaic industry, Romania's commitment to developing renewable sources means it can take advantage of the EU's urgent wave of investment in power grids to develop rapidly. Romania has now become the 118th member of the International Photovoltaic Alliance (ISA), and the country's cumulative installed photovoltaic system capacity will reach 2.9GW by the end of 2023.

At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in December 2023, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis pledged to increase the installed capacity of solar systems in the country to more than 8GW by 2030.

The EU Photovoltaic Market Outlook report previously released by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association listed Romania as one of the top ten growth markets in Europe for the first time, together with Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.