Transelectrica to raise the stakes
The national power grid operator, Transelectrica, has scheduled investments of over RON 1.7bn by 2020. Refurbishing of power grids and substations, increasing interconnection capacities, upgrading the IT and telecommunications infrastructure will be the main projects to be funded by the company in the following three years.
For this year, the investment budget of the company amounts to RON 420.77mln, and for the following two years the investment value will reach RON 1.295bn. According to the income and expenditure budget of the company, which will be adopted by shareholders in early March 2018, the following investments will continue this year:
– 400kV OHL interconnecting Resita – Pančevo;
– Refurbishing Bradu substation;
– Banat Axis with 400kV OHL Portile de Fier – Anina – Resita and 400/220/110 kV Resita substation;
– Replacement of AT and transformers in substations;
– Upgrading the 110kV and 20kV Suceava substations;
– Extending the Medgidia substation;
– Refurbishment of Turnu Severin Est, Domnesti, Ungheni substations; Upgrading the Raureni, Arefu, Dumbrava, Bacau Sud and Roman Nord substations; Upgrading the installations from Focsani Vest substation;
– Components replacement of EDS SCADA system.
In the period 2018 – 2020, the company expects to start refurbishment works at 12 substations in the country, integrate production from nine new power plants and eliminate congestion, as well as works to increase interconnection capacity, dispatching, upgrade the IT infrastructure. The investment for switching to 400kV voltage the Portile de Fier – Resita – Timisoara – Sacalaz – Arad Axis and to the overhead line 400kV Gadalin – Suceava will also be started within these projects.
Funding for Cernavoda – Stalpu
Transelectrica will receive from the European Commission a grant worth EUR 27 million to build the 400kV OHL Cernavoda – Stalpu. This is the first of the six projects of common interest of Transelectrica included on the third list of projects of common interest (PCI) on energy infrastructure, adopted in November last year by the European Commission. OHL Cernavoda – Stalpu will contribute to increase the interconnection capacity between Romania and Bulgaria and to integrate wind energy from Dobrogea area. The project of Cernavoda – Stalpu line is part of the Black Sea Corridor Cluster. The 400kV Cernavoda – Stalpu line will have a length of around 160 kilometres, and for its commissioning it is necessary to build the 400kV Stalpu substation and extend the Cernavoda and Gura Ialomitei substations. According to the 10-year development plan of Transelectrica, the 400kV OHL Cernavoda – Stalpu will be completed in 2020. Besides this line, the Black Sea Corridor Cluster also includes the 400kV Smardan – Gutinas and Suceava – Gadalin overhead lines. The designed route of the 400kV double circuit OHL Cernavoda – Stalpu crosses the territory of three counties (Constanta, Ialomita, Buzau) and is split into 2 sections:
- The section between the 400/110kV Cernavoda substation and the 400/110kV Gura Ialomitei substation (Ialomita County), with length of 53.2 kilometres double circuit and 5.5 kilometres simple circuit; it also includes the 2 panels crossing the Danube (2.5 kilometres) and Borcea arm (1.7 kilometres);
- The section between the 400/110kV Gura Ialomitei substation and the 400kV Stalpu (Buzau County) substation, with a length of 101km, double circuit.
Resita – Pančevo line has crossed the border
Regarding the 400kV OHL Resita (RO) – Pančevo (Serbia), it is part of the Mid Continental East Corridor. The section on Romania’s territory of 400kV OHL Resita – Pančevo, mostly completed at the end of last year, is realized in double circuit and crosses 11 localities of Caras-Severin County: the city of Resita, the communes of Ezeris, Lupac, Dognecea, Goruia, Ticvaniu Mare, Berliste, Ciudanovita, Gradinari, Varadia and Vrani. 400kV OHL Resita – Pančevo has a length on the territory of Romania of 63 kilometres and a number of 206 poles. The length of the line on Serbia’s territory is 68 kilometres. The contract for building 400kV OHL Resita – Pančevo was signed in June 2014, and its total value, on the signing date, was RON 81,389,615.
Romania – Serbia interconnection
The Mid Continental East Corridor project also includes the 400kV OHL Portile de Fier – Resita and the extension of the 220/110kV Resita substation by building the new substation of 400kV, switching to 400kV of 220kV OHL Resita – Timisoara – Sacalaz – Arad, including building the 400kV Timisoara and Sacalaz substations.
The aforementioned projects are integrated into the plans of the European Transmission and System Operators (TSOs) to develop the trans-European networks and ensure their interoperability. The Mid Continental East Corridor project is necessary for the priority corridor on electricity: ‘North-south electricity interconnections in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (NSI East Electricity)’ – interconnections and internal lines in north-south and east-west directions to complete the EU internal energy market and integrate renewable energy sources.
Given the contribution to the implementation of EU’s strategic priorities on trans-European energy infrastructure, the Mid Continental East Corridor project was included by the European Commission in the first list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) in the Commission Delegated Regulation no. 1391/2013, forming the ‘Romania – Serbia Cluster’.
