The mayor of Constanta, Vergil Chițac, announced on Wednesday, in a press conference, the signing of the contract for the design and execution of a new thermal power plant (CET), an investment of about 700 million lei.

“Last week we signed the contract for the execution of a new CET in Constanta. At the end of a very complex bidding process, which took longer than we wanted, we signed this contract. (…) This project is so important that it must be presented stage by stage, publicly, because it transcends the achievements of an administration, whatever it may be. It is a project for at least the next 30 years and will have implications in the life of the city. (…) We are talking about a contract of 140 million euros, and the duration of execution of the design and of the plant itself is at most 34 months. We have to fit into the 2026 deadline, being financed by PNRR”, declared Chițac, according to Agerpres.

According to him, the new thermal power plant is an ultra-modern generation-cogeneration system in high efficiency mode.

“The new CET is the heat agent source of the centralized thermal energy supply system, which, apart from the source, also contains the heat agent transport network to the thermal points, we are talking about 136 thermal points and, subsequently, the distribution network, from thermal points to consumers. (…) The power plant is an ultramodern system of generation-cogeneration in high efficiency regime. (…) In 2021 we accessed three POIM programs through which we change, for the first time, the primary network where there were the biggest losses and later we expand to the secondary networks. (…) We have completed the first stage of changing the heating networks, the value of the contract – 115 million lei; stage two is in physical execution, the value of the contract – 116 million lei; stage three, in the central area, is in physical execution, it is changing now, value – 52 million lei; stage four, we have the financing contract signed with the Ministry of Development, the value is 146 million lei; stage five – at the moment we are quite advanced with the feasibility study; (…) stage six, pending, we are looking for funding sources. It represents works on distribution networks up to consumers”, said the mayor of Constanta.

The general director of Electrocentrale Bucharest (ELCEN), Claudiu Crețu, the president of the Board of Directors of Electrocentrale Constanța, emphasized the importance of the centralized heating system compared to the individual systems that, from the year 2040, will no longer be able to be used.

“The European Union encourages centralized systems, from 2030 individual plants are no longer allowed, and from 2040 they will be eliminated altogether. Why? For environmental reasons, for safety reasons, for health reasons. (…) We will witness the return to the centralized system of those disconnected”, Crețu declared, during the press conference.

Mayor Vergil Chițac added that there were 105,000 domestic consumers in Constanța in 1989, and currently their number has dropped to around 35,000.