Constanta City Hall proposed projects to be financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) worth over 600 million euros, announced mayor Vergil Chițac at a conference organized by Energynomics. Chițac also spoke about the taxation of energy-efficient buildings, about plans for district heating infrastructure, and public transport plans.
RADET Constanta is in insolvency, Termoficare Constanta SRL appeared
The first big problem with the district heating in Constanța is related to the enormous water losses from the transmission and distribution main networks. “The district heating network in Constanța has losses of 250 tons of water per hour,” said Vergil Chițac. “Hot water leaves the CET, it returns less by 250 tons. This huge volume must be […] drawn from RAJA [the local operator for water supply to the population – e.n.], loaded in the system, which means additional expenses”, the mayor explained.
The envisaged solution is to change the heat transfer pipelines, using European funds available in POIM, axis 7.1. The municipality has already submitted a project and will send another one in a week. “The program for 2016-2020, which will operate for another three years, as it was conceived, did not admit projects larger than 20 million euros. We talked with their responsible people there to find a solution and we will submit two distinct projects of 20 million euros each”, said Vergil Chițac. “We need to change the transport pipeline segments where most losses occur,” the mayor explained.
He specified that the negative impact is not only related to the additional costs with the heating agent. “All this water goes into the city’s underground and ends up affecting the stability of the banks and the slope, the interface between the Black Sea and the city. In general, all the slopes need to be strengthened and in general, the sea is responsible for the erosion of the banks by no more than 20%. For the rest, it is all about rains and underground water flows”, said Chițac.
As RADET Constanța is insolvent and it cannot access European financing, a new company was set up, subordinated to the Local Council – Termoficare Constanța SRL. “In order not to waste time, we have also started the tender procedure for a framework agreement with an economic operator that will be able to change these pipelines, so that when we receive the financing decision from POIM we can already start the works”, said Vergil Chițac.
Taking over a cleared of debts heat producer
Chițac also said that regarding the production of the thermal agent, the optimal solution is for the local authorities to take over the CET. It must be an integrated system, with unitary coordination, says Vergil Chițac. Currently, the transfer is delayed by legal proceedings and the CET is in insolvency, with a judicial administrator. The mayor proposed that the Ministry of Energy take over the assets of CET, on account of debts, and then transfer it to the municipality. “We have other options, we can also buy some of the receivables”, the mayor of Constanța added.
In the future, European money might finance a new heat producer with less polluting. Natural gas and hydrogen solutions are considered, and also renewable energy sources.
Green projects, based not only on European money
“We are now establishing, this year, what are the necessary projects for our city, the development projects”, Mayor Chițac also said. From the conceptual note to the feasibility study and the technical projects, the necessary period can exceed one year, estimated Vergil Chițac, “about 400 days”. “My approach is that funding is the last issue. […] If I find European funding sources, it’s okay, but if I can’t find open calls on European money, we simply start financing the projects. We have several options, we have the pre-financing agreement with the EBRD, we can also be financed by banks because we are solvent, given that the public debt of Constanța is only 1.4% of our own revenues”, said Chițac. Issuance of municipal bonds is also a variant.
Constanța City Hall has signed a contract for the purchase of 41 electric buses for the local transport company Citybus subordinated to the Local Council. “In the context in which the boulevards will be rehabilitated with European money, including with lanes dedicated to public transport, our level of ambition is to replace the existing buses […] with electric buses,” said Vergil Chițac.
The conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – the 5th year – Constanța” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners Kawasaki Gas Turbines Europe, Wiren Energy.
More than 200 people registered on the MyConnector platform to participate in the dialogue.