The company Rețele Electrice Romania, part of the PPC group, has started the works to modernize the electricity distribution infrastructure in the Gărâna-Văliug-Trei Ape area in Caraș-Severin county, in order to improve the quality of services for approximately 650 existing customers and ensure an increased capacity of the network to supply future consumption.
The targeted electricity networks serve customers in Brebu Nou, Gărâna and the Lac Trei Ape Recreational Area. The total value of the modernization project is 57.6 million lei (VAT included), the financing being partially provided by the Modernization Fund, through a grant of a maximum value of 37.8 million lei. The estimated duration of the works is 31 months.
The modernization project targets approximately 23 km of existing medium voltage overhead and underground lines (6 kV and 20 kV). Two new medium voltage lines of 17.8 km and 9.2 km respectively will be developed. The Brebu Nou – Gărâna overhead power line will be upgraded from 6 kV to 20 kV, to ensure increased distribution capacity, and will be looped with the 20 kV Văliug and Slatina Timiș lines, to increase supply security. This project will also create a backup loop that will ensure the continuity of electricity supply for customers of Semenic Mountain, an important area of tourist interest.
In addition, 13 existing transformer stations will be modernized and a new concrete-enclosed transformer station will be added in the Trei Ape Lake recreational area.
The network equipment will be introduced into the telecontrol system, which ensures remote network monitoring and operation and rapid maneuvers without teams moving to the field. Therefore, fiber optic circuits will be installed to take over data traffic between telecontrol systems, sensors and intelligent equipment installed in the distribution network.
Increasing the resilience and reliability of the electrical network takes into account the geographical specifics of Caraș-Severin County, where the relief is mountainous on about 65% of the surface, which implies a higher exposure of the electrical network elements to severe weather phenomena.
The Romanian Electricity Networks company operates networks with a total length of about 136,000 kilometers in three important areas of the country: Muntenia (including Bucharest), Banat and Dobrogea, covering a third of the local distribution market, and is developing an investment program to improve the quality of services, safety and performance of the networks and the local implementation of the environmental standards of the PPC group. The infrastructure operated by Rețele Electrice România includes 293 transformer stations and over 26,000 transformer substations.