Modernizing works of the thermal grid in the municipality of Oradea, the third stage, are in an advanced phase, 76% of the routes included in the contracts being replaced or almost completed. With priority, large-diameter networks, vital for the safe operation of the system, in important areas of the city were targeted, according to Transilvania Business.

Mayor Florin Birta visited on Friday, July 21, 2023, several construction sites on the main network where traffic is difficult due to the works, giving assurances that, by the start of the school year, construction will end. Moreover, stage III would be completed by the end of 2023, which will mean that, in winter, Oradea will have 85% of the entire heating system modernized.

“As announced back in June, we have postponed these traffic-blocking construction sites for the holiday period when traffic is lighter. Today I visited three of these areas with blockages, the Averescu area where the pipelines are being replaced, Magheru Blvd, where a traffic lane is blocked in the direction of the Civic Center – Magazinul Crișul and the Emanuil Gojdu National College area, where there are still works to replace these mains. We want all of this work to be completed by fall when school starts again. At the end of this stage, which targets 23 kilometers of rehabilitated primary pipes, we will have 85% of the heating system rehabilitated. This means that we will no longer have losses on the network, we will no longer have winters in which the residents of Oradea remain for long periods of time without heating agent or hot water, as happens in other cities, and, at the same time, the cost of producing a gigacalorie and borne by the city’s inhabitants will be much lower than in other areas,” said Mayor Florin Birta.

In continuation of the two previous stages, stage III, combined with the Nufărul 1 Geothermal investment, will bring the rehabilitation of the transport network to a percentage of 85% of the total length of the primary network (having approximately 86 km) and will strengthen the rehabilitation and modernization of SACET Oradea by rehabilitating thermal points and distribution networks, and where it is technically and economically feasible, giving up large thermal points, neighborhood and replacing them with mini thermal points, at condominium level.

At the same time, in the Ioșia Nord area, the necessary technical premises are being created for the superior use of the geothermal resource – during the past winter, the 6 thermal points in the neighborhood were mainly powered by geothermal energy, depending on the required operating regime.

“In stage I, 2014-2015, 7.5 km were rehabilitated, in stage II, 2017-2018, 21.3 kilometers, and in stage III, 23 kilometers, works that are currently underway. I would like to thank my colleagues from the Internationally Funded Projects Management Department and the Oradea Thermal Company, who are concerned with the implementation of the project, as well as the builders who are working on this project and who are mobilizing in an exemplary manner, even if the temperatures are very high outside, so that they fall within the deadline and by the end of the year these works are completed and we do not lose any European money,” said the mayor Florin Birta.