Distribuţie Oltenia has started a pilot project for the installation of photovoltaic power plants with an installed capacity of approximately 70 kW in two of its substations, to cover internal energy consumption and improve the quality of energy distributed to consumers. The project is among the sustainable development objectives assumed by the operator within its sustainability strategy. The sustainable results from 2020 of the Distribuţie Oltenia operator and the targets for 2021 can be consulted in the Sustainability Report 2020, certified (GRI), the “Core” option.
The first 110/20 kV substation in which a photovoltaic plant was installed is Bărbătești, Gorj County, the system already producing the first kWh of green energy.
Distribuţie Oltenia aims to cover the internal energy consumption of approximately 204 MWh/year produced by the internal services of the Bărbătești station with the energy produced by the photovoltaic panels and thus to improve the efficiency of the energy distribution process.
The 110/20 kV Bărbătești substation in Gorj county supplies electricity to over 5,600 consumers from Bărbătești, Jupânești, Saulești and partially the cities of Târgu Cărbunești and Țicleni.
About 96.4% of the station’s surface are electrical systems and installations (primary equipment, concrete platforms related to primary equipment, command and control systems, technological services) and 188 photovoltaic panels were installed on 810 sqm. The photovoltaic plant system includes photovoltaic panels with a total installed power of 70.5 kW, two inverters of 33 kW each and a CEF general switchboard, equipped with circuit breakers.
The 110/20 kV Hârlești substation from Teleorman county, the second substation where Oltenia Distribution installs a photovoltaic power plant, supplies consumers from Trivale Moșteni village. The commissioning of the plant will be completed by the end of 2021. The internal energy consumption of the Hârlești transformer station amounts to approximately 305 MWh/year, this quantity will be produced from green sources. On the land of the transformation station, 188 photovoltaic panels are being installed on approximately 534 sq m, the remaining 95% of the surface of the station being occupied by electrical installations.
In the same green direction, Distribuţie Oltenia has started the necessary procedures for attracting funds through the Norwegian financial mechanism of grants 2014 – 2021, in order to achieve the objectives imposed by the European Union on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency and the amount of energy obtained from renewable sources.
In addition, Distribuţie Oltenia has 10 ongoing co-financed projects, worth approximately
73 million euros with a positive impact on the development of the grid and is preparing new projects dedicated to the installation of photovoltaic power plants in its substations.
For the continuous reduction of internal electricity consumption in its facilities, Distribuţie Oltenia also prepared the E-Analytics project that aims to implement a new platform that uses all available data to improve the calculation and forecast of CPT (own technological consumption), daily energy forecast and identification of energy theft using advanced algorithms. In this regard, the operator submitted a financing project for obtaining European funds in the total amount of 2.9 million euros, of which own contribution – 1.4 million euro.