September 25 (SeeNews) - Romanian power grid operator Transelectrica [BSE:TEL] said on Tuesday that it has completed the second stage of the 400/110/20 kV Tulcea Vest substation refurbishment project following a 100 million lei ($25 million/ 22 million euro) investment.
The refurbishment of Tulcea Vest Substation contributes to increasing the operational safety of the national power system in the southeastern area by introducing new high-performance equipment, Transelectrica said in a filing to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
The refurbishment of the substation was carried out in two stages: the first one between 2013-2015 and the second between 2017-2018.
The 400/110/20 kV Tulcea Vest is an important hub in the power transmission grid, supplying the municipality of Tulcea, the industrial platform that includes alumina refinery Alum Tulcea and Tulcea Shipyard.
The investment is part of a larger series of projects that are completed, in execution or are to be started by the company in the Dobrogea area. With a total value of over 390 million lei, the six projects, are meant to increase the operational safety of the national power system and to contribute to the integration of electricity from renewable sources.
"Dobrogea is a pole of electricity generation in Romania, a strategic area that provides about 30% of total production, second only to Oltenia. This is why Transelectrica focuses its important investment efforts in this area on the modernisation, refurbishment and especially on the development of the electricity transmission grid," Transelectrica's executive general director Adrian Constantin Rusu said.
Transelectrica recorded a net profit of 98 million lei in the first half of 2018, flat year-on-year. The financial results were negatively influenced by a 10% drop in transmission prices as compared with the first half of 2017.
At the end of July, Transelectrica completed the upgrade of its Suceava station following a 24 million lei investment from the company's own funds.
In May, the company inaugurated a 400 kV interconnection line between Romania's Resita and Serbia's Pancevo following investment of over 81.5 million lei.
In April, the power grid operator received the first tranche of 2.2 million euro ($2.5 million) of a 27 million euro grant from the European Commission for the construction of a new electricity transmission line.
The Romanian finance ministry owns some 59% of Transelectrica.
Transelectrica shares traded 0.21% lower at 23.45 lei as at 1113 CET on Tuesday.
(1 euro=4.6578 lei)