The Ministry of Energy does not give up on the Tarniţa energy project

The Tarniţa-Lăpuşteşti energy project must go ahead and will go ahead, at the fastest possible pace, because it is the most important investment aimed at balancing the national energy system, said the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, on Friday, at the end of the inauguration in Constanţa of the 55,000 cubic meter tank built by Oil Terminal.

According to Agerpres, Minister Sebastian Burduja said: "Every major project also faces challenges. We found a significant interest from the big profile companies, but - unfortunately - this did not materialize in compliant offers at this time. At the same time, more than 70 requests for clarifications were received, which concerned both the possible extension of the submission deadline and the contractual clauses. Some have already been accepted. I ordered the urgent resumption of the procedure for the acquisition of the technical-economic documentation, taking into account all the clarifications received in the first stage. We are confident that the resumption of the procedure will be done at the beginning of next week, with an improved award documentation that will take into account the requests of the private sector. This will increase the chances of the successful completion of the procedure, which will have an initial term of 30 days. The Tarniţa-Lăpuşteşti project must go ahead and will go ahead, at the fastest possible pace. It is the most important investment for balancing the national energy system, and the feasibility of its realization is confirmed by reputable experts in the energy sector. We encourage all possible competitors to get involved in the bidding procedure and to submit complete and compliant bids, within the deadlines provided by law".

The cited source also shows that SAPE SA launched in October 2023 the procurement procedure for the Feasibility Study and Technical-Economic Documentation related to the Tarniţa - Lăpuşteşti hydroelectric power plant with pumped storage (CHEAP) investment objective. Later, at the request of the potential bidders, in order to prepare the documentation according to the legislation in force, the deadline was extended by a period of 23 days until December 27, 2023, at 15:00. 15 bidders signed up for this procedure, including some of the largest profile companies in the world.

On December 27, 2023, the public procurement portal displayed the message "This procedure has been canceled automatically, because on the deadline for the submission of offers, none of the registered bidders has encrypted the financial offer/or has not responded to all the electronic evaluation factors , as the case". Thus, the procedure was cancelled.

The Ministry of Energy mentioned that the respective situation was also caused by the submission period, December being an interval with a limited capacity for companies' involvement.

The feasibility study, which will cost 3.5 million euros, will determine the solutions for the realization of a pumped storage hydroelectric plant with a power between 500 MW (Megawatts) - 1,000 MW. The study will refer to the method of construction of the plant, to the cost-benefit analyzes carried out for the presented solutions, elaborated in the existing legislative and technical-economic conditions, and will contain the urban planning certificate, the compliant notices for the provision of utilities, as well as notices, agreements and specific studies, as the case may be, depending on the specifics of the investment objective, including that for connection to the electricity transmission network and the environmental permit.

The construction and commissioning of the Tarniţa plant will ensure the optimal conditions for the installation of a power greater than 4000 MW in wind power plants.