E-Distribuție Muntenia has invested 24.35 million lei in building two new underground high voltage power lines in Bucharest, in order to increase the capacity of the grid and enhance the quality of the distribution service and the safety of the energy supply for over 100.000 customers in central and northern areas of city, the company announced.
Thus, E-Distribuţie Muntenia finalized, at the beginning of this year, the project for the complete replacement of the 110 kV high-voltage underground power line that provides the connection between the Bucharest Nord and Bucharest Center power stations, both belonging to E-Distribuţie Muntenia. The transmission capacity of the line has been increased more than twice, from 76 MVA (Mega Volt Amper) to 180 MVA, enhancing the operational reliability of the distribution network as well as the ability to connect future new customers from the central and northern areas of the Capital. The line has a length of 3.1 km, while the investment amounted to 6.55 million lei.
Also, E-Distribuţie Muntenia has put in function a new 110kV underground power line linking Fundeni power station (belonging to the transport operator) with Bucharest Nord power station. This new 10.27 kilometers line, provides a particularly important connection between the Southern and Eastern areas of Bucharest, allowing the rapid supply of consumers from the two areas of the distribution network in the case of a network unavailability in the transmission operator’s installations. The investment amounted to 17.8 million lei, including the financing for the construction of the 110kV cells for the connection to the high voltage busbar in the mentioned station of the transport system operator.
E-Distribuție Muntenia’s power stations Bucharest North and Bucharest Centre serve together about 105,000 customers, including residential customers, as well as central and local institutions of the Romanian State (ministries, city halls, hospitals), and diplomatic institutions.
The projects are part of a broad investment plan developed by E-Distributie companies in Romania in order to improve the quality of services offered to customers, by modernizing and refurbishing the power stations, improving the distribution network and implementing the Enel Group’s environmental standards.
The 2019 – 2021 investment plan for high-voltage lines in the capital comprises works amounting to 50 million lei for projects to replace lines and increase transmission capacity. Thus, E-Distributie Muntenia will continue to invest in the underground power lines (110 kV) Nord-Grozăveşti, Grozăveşti-Răzoare, Fundeni-Pipera (circuit 2), Răzoare-Militari and Militari-Grozăveşti. The routes of these lines amount to about 23 km.
Due to the investments in grid modernisation, the three E-Distributie companies from Muntenia Sud, Banat and Dobrogea have been leading for many years the top of the electricity distribution operators in Romania. According to ANRE official reports for 2017, the SAIDI index for E-Distributie Muntenia was 145 minutes, the best in the country, the national average being 283.9 minutes. E-Distributie Dobrogea and Banat also had performances below the national average, with the SAIDI index of 185 minutes and 259 minutes, respectively.