Rompetrol Rafinare SA—jointly owned by Kazakhstan’s state-owned JSC NC KazMunayGas (KMG) subsidiary KMG International NV (54.63%) and Romania’s Ministry of Economy, Energy & Business Environment (44.7%)—is advancing a project involving installation of a 9.4-Mw photovoltaic plant at its 5-million tonne/year (tpy) Petromidia refinery in Năvodari, Constanța County, on Romania’s Black Sea coast.

Designed to generate more than 9,800 Mw-hr/year of electricity for direct use by the refinery, the project aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the site by about 6,024 tpy, Rompetrol Rafinare said in a release Oct. 8.

Budgeted at an overall investment of about $9.2 million—including about $2.9 million in nonrefundable modernization fund support and a $6.3-million company contribution—the project is targeted for completion by Dec. 31, 2028, under the funding call deadline.

Petromidia’s solar project will complement the site’s 80-Mw cogeneration plant—operated by Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund (KREIF) subsidiary Rompetrol Energy SA—which entered commercial operation at the end of 2025 and supplies the refinery’s electricity and process steam requirements.

Rompetrol reported a 98.11% capacity utilization rate at Petromidia in first-half 2026. The refinery also recorded an 86.54% white-product yield and a 92-point Energy Intensity Index during the first 6 months of 2026, according to the Oct. 8 announcement.

Vega project adds battery storage

Announcement of the proposed project at Petromidia follows Rompetrol Rafinare’s Aug. 21 confirmation of a separate solar-and-storage project at its Vega Ploieşti niche refinery—specialized in the production of solvents, hexane, and the only Romanian-produced bitumen—in Ploiesti, Prahova County, Romania, about 60 km from Bucharest.

The planned Vega installation will combine 4.8 Mw of photovoltaic capacity with a 9-Mw-hr energy storage system. It is expected to produce more than 6,200 Mw-hr/year, equivalent to about two-thirds of the refinery’s budgeted 2025 electricity use.

The battery-based storage component of the project is intended to help align solar generation with the refinery’s operating requirements, according to the operator.

Rompetrol Rafinare said it expects the project—once online—to reduce GHG emissions at Vega by more than 3,800 tpy.

The operator estimated an overall cost of the Vega solar-and-storage project at about $6 million, including contributions of about $1.6 million from the modernization fund and $4.5 million from the company.

Like Petromidia, Vega’s on-site renewable energy generation project is scheduled for implementation by Dec. 31, 2028.

Approval of the two projects advance plans previously disclosed in the company’s 2025 annual report, dated Mar. 25, 2026. At that time, feasibility studies for photovoltaic installations at Petromidia and Vega were complete, while internal approvals remained in progress.