"Vimetco", "Enel" and "Alro Slatina" competing for the construction an energy generation unit in Rovinari

"Vimetco", "Enel" and "Alro Slatina" are three of the five companies which acquired tender books for the construction of a 500 MW energy generation unit in the Rovinari Energy Complex, Tiberiu Trotea, the general manager of the Complex said yesterday.

According to him, the other two companies are Chinese, and the letters of intent will be opened on September 30. The investment will be run through a public-private partnership, as the Rovinari Energy complex will contribute assets to this project.

Tiberiu Trotea said that the project is expected to cost an estimated 1.25 million Euros per MW, without including the installations for the collection, transportation and storage of carbon dioxide.

The director of the Rovinari Electric complex added that such energy blocks will also be built at the complexes of Craiova and Turceni, and added that all the three complexes will upgrade and resume operation of energy generation units which had been shut down in the previous years.

He emphasized that the three complexes are profitable and that they have been looking to operate as part of an integrated company for a long time, as this comes as an opportunity for them to grow and to attract funding.

These statements made by the official of the Rovinari Energy Complex come as the company which he is representing will be included in the Oltenia Energy Complex, together with the other two energy complexes of the region and the National Lignite Company (SNLO).

In two weeks, the Ministry of the Economy will enact the decision for the creation of the Oltenia and Hunedoara Energy Complexes, using the structure of the SNLO and of the CNH (National Coal Company), Claudiu Stafie, secretary of state in the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment (MECMA), said yesterday: "In two weeks, the Government will approve the reorganization of the energy production sector into the two energy complexes - Hunedoara and Oltenia. The creation of < Electra > and < Hidroenergetica > was blocked by the courts and we have looked for alternative solutions which are now up for review by the Government. We think this solution could be viable".

"The Romanian Supreme Defense Coucil will be informed, in the next meeting, that the Government is giving up on the idea of creating < Electra > and < Hidroenergetica >, and the project to restructure the energy and mining sector will look to create the Oltenia and Hunedoara complexes", the general manager of the National Coal Company (CNH), Constantin Jujan said yesterday.

The authorities have reviewed two plans for the reorganization of the energy system, one which considered the creation of the two companies named "Electra" and "Hidroenergetica", and one that provided the formation of two energy complexes, one for lignite and one for hard coal.