The works will entail making loops on medium voltage lines, consisting of 20 kV cables, supplied from the 110/20/10 kV Fratelia and Cetate primary substations in the Timișoara municipality area, contributing to increasing the safety of supply to consumers in this area. The duration of execution of these works will be 25 months.
As part of this project, the routes of two medium voltage lines between the Cetate and Fratelia primary substations in Timișoara will be reconfigured, on a length of approximately 18.5 km, so that they will connect, in total, 23 transformer substations that will be modernized and a medium voltage connection point will be established. As part of the works, the existing transformer stations in the area, put into operation in the 70s, will be modernized or replaced with new ones, with smaller medium voltage cells, which will be integrated into the remote control system, for the benefit of the inhabitants of this area. In addition, the communication network will switch to more secure, fibre-optic communications for information exchanges for monitoring and remote control/command.
Following the modernization works, reductions in energy losses from the network and mitigated impact on the environment will be recorded at the level of the distribution network. The project has a direct effect on the quality of distribution service and to increase the level of digitalization to improve the management of unplanned interruptions, for the safe supply of customers.
"One of our strategic objectives is the digitalisation of networks. To achieve this, we are investing heavily in modernizing energy infrastructure. In the Banat region, but especially in Timis county and in the Timișoara municipality area, we have extensive works. Last year we inaugurated a new primary substation, from our own funds, in Dumbrăvița, and we are modernizing other stations in the area. The current project aims to invest in modern technologies for medium voltage networks in the Cetate – Fratelia area, in line with the changing needs of our customers," said Mihai Pește, General Manager of Retele Electrice companies.
The project for switching to 20kV of the distribution networks supplied from the 110/20/10 kV primary substations Cetate and Fratelia is financed from non-reimbursable funds through the Modernization Fund, totaling RON 46.3 million (VAT included). Of the total value of the project, the maximum insured value from the Modernization Fund is 80% of the eligible expenses, respectively RON 30.6 million, while the value insured by Retele Electrice Banat (previously called E-Distributie Banat) is RON 15.6 million (VAT included).
Retele Electrice companies operate networks with a total length of over 133,000 kilometers in three important areas of the country: Muntenia Sud (including Bucharest), Banat and Dobrogea, covering one third of the local distribution market, and are developing an investment program to improve service quality, network safety and performance and local implementation of PPC Group's environmental standards. The power grids operated by the three Retele Electrice companies include 287 primary substations and over 24,000 transformer substations.
