Romania needs 10 bln euro investments in electrical distribution networks

Romania needs investments worth 10 billion euro to replace the old electrical distribution networks, that have their lifespan worn out, on Thursday said Catalin Stancu, the Electrica managing director at the "Energy plugged in" conference organised by Bursa newspaper. 

"Right now, the lifespan of the power distribution and transport network in Romania is over 60 pct fulfilled, meaning it is a relatively old structure. If translated into figures, as compared to the average of the central and east-European countries, SAIDI - the System Average Interruption Duration Index - is below 100 minutes, while in Romania it stands at 270 minutes. In simple translation: there is an obvious need of massive investment in infrastructure," Stancu said. 

The managing director said that from the assessments of the Federation of Energy Utility Companies Associations (ACUE), investments worth 10 billion euro are needed only in the outdated distribution networks. 

"Normally, for objective reasons related to market capacity limitation, the distributors in Romania could achieve 350 - 400 million euro per annum, which would translate into an over 25-year period to recoup the technological gap," the Electrica head stressed. 

He added that such investments would have an impact on the tariffs, too and the solution should be to define the vulnerable consumer as soon as possible.