The Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja and the General Director of Transgaz, Ion Sterian, signed a financing contract for the construction of the natural gas transport pipeline to supply the Mintia Power Plant, in Hunedoara County, a project worth a total of 300.69 million lei (60.43 million euros).
According to a press release from Transgaz, out of the total, 33.97 million lei (6.83 million euros) represent financing from the Modernization Fund.
“It is a step forward for this plant to be put into operation in 2026. We are basically providing the raw material, the gas, for the plant. It is a grandiose project, the largest gas plant in Europe – 1,700 MW of installed power. This project it means jobs for Romanians, we are talking about over 1,200 jobs during the construction of the plant, we are talking about safe energy produced in the strip, we are talking about the most efficient plant in Europe, with an efficiency of 64% and, therefore, a substantial support that Romania receives on the path of green transition and replacement of coal in the energy mix with natural gas, a strategic resource to which Romania has access the energy sector in the area. I have said before and I repeat, we will not leave anyone behind,” said Sebastian Burduja.
The pipeline will supply other industrial consumers and also domestic consumers. Thus, the location of the works for the natural gas transport pipeline to feed the Mintia Power Plant is in the extra-village and the inner-village of the communes of Sântămaria Orlea, Bretea Română, Băcia, Cârjiți, Vetel and the towns of Călan, Hunedoara, Deva, over a total distance of 56.5 km.
“By signing the financing contract from the Modernization Fund, respectively the investment project ‘Natural gas transport pipeline for the supply of the Mintia Power Plant’ (including other industrial and household consumers), even though it provides only 11% of the investment value, Transgaz reaffirms its commitment to continue the efforts to obtain non-refundable financing in order to implement the strategic investment program in the development and modernization of the natural gas transport infrastructure. With a capacity of 1700 MW, with an annual consumption of 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas, the Centrala de in Mintia becomes, practically, the largest consumer of natural gas in our country and will contribute significantly to the increase of natural gas consumption in Romania,” added Ion Sterian, for his part.
He specified that all the administrative-territorial units crossed by it will be connected to this gas pipeline, thus contributing to the economic development of the region and to the increase of the community’s standard of living.
“And through this investment, Transgaz continues to contribute to the sustainable development of the national economy, through the superior valorization, within the country, of the gas to be extracted from the offshore perimeters of the Black Sea, to the increase and consolidation of national, regional and European energy security,” added the Transgaz CEO.
The project “Natural gas transport pipeline for powering the Mintia Power Plant”, with the support of the Ministry of Energy, was declared a project of national importance in the field of natural gas, by GD no. 129/2023. SNTGN Transgaz has submitted, through the Ministry of Energy, 12 projects for the expansion and modernization of the natural gas transport infrastructure, with four projects approved to be financed from the Modernization Fund.
The modernization fund (FM) is made up of the revenues obtained by auctioning on the market 2% of greenhouse gas emission certificates (GHG) at the EU level, for the period 2021-2030, Romania having allocated a percentage of 11.98 %, which represents a budget of over 15 billion euros, which can be used until 2030.