Rețele Electrice România, the electricity distribution operator and part of the PPC Group in Romania, will implement a project worth 123.49 million lei (VAT included) to modernize and increase the capacity of the Cetate transformer substation, which serves over 25,000 customers in the central area of Timișoara.
Of the project’s total value, approximately 65.1 million lei (excluding VAT) is secured through co-financing from the Sustainable Development and Just Transition Program, following a contract signed with the Ministry of Investments and European Projects.
The substation’s current capacity of 65 Megavolt-Amperes (MVA) will be increased by adding a new 40 MVA power transformer alongside the two existing ones. If necessary, the Cetate substation can take over the power supply for adjacent substations, ultimately serving approximately 51,000 customers.
“The Cetate substation in Timișoara supplies electricity to a significant number of customers and essential institutions in the city center, such as the Municipal Emergency Clinical Hospital, the Louis Țurcanu Children’s Hospital, and the Military Emergency Hospital. Signing this project—supported by the Sustainable Development and Just Transition Program—reinforces our company’s goals of continuously enhancing the resilience of the distribution network through modernization works that allow us to adapt to the consumption needs driven by the energy transition,” says Mihai Pește, General Manager of Rețele Electrice România. The main activities focus on modernizing and digitizing the substation’s electrical infrastructure by replacing 110 kV primary equipment with state-of-the-art GIS technology.
Primary equipment for the 10 kV and 20 kV medium-voltage busbars, as well as the neutral grounding units, will also be replaced. Additionally, the control room will be modernized, and the network equipment will be integrated into the AADMS-SCADA automated distribution management system; this system ensures centralized and automated network management, facilitating remote monitoring and operation, as well as rapid switching operations without the need to dispatch field teams.
The project implementation period is 39 months from the date the financing contract is signed.