The developers have been expecting Italy’s Enel to approve a higher voltage connection for more than eighteen months.
In its first day in business the mall had 85,000 visitors, more than initially estimated and expects more than 10 million visitors this year.
ParkLake was announced nine years ago and construction work on it started two years ago. The absurd situation it found itself in shows how cumbersome and bureaucratic connecting to the power grid managed by Italy’s Enel in Bucharest is, as well as the insufficient investment in the grid to allow for more major consumers, experts say.
The developer of the mall in the Titan district in eastern Bucharest resorted to the use of generators to be able to meet electricity consumption demands of because Enel was too late in approving its request, with the higher voltage connection coming in the next few weeks.
“Unfortunately, we have to use generators to keep the mall running as it should,” said Ingo Nissen, managing director of Sonae Sierra in charge of the development projects in Romania.
The mall does not use generators all the time, but on Liviu Rebreanu Street in front of ParkLake there is not enough electricity available from Enel to keep the entire mall powered at 20 kV (transmission voltage i.e.). This is why the owner of the mall has to build an electric substation and get 110 kV power from the substation in Dudesti (a substation serving the entire area ParkLake is in). The mall will have to use generators for two weeks to two months at most and has enough power without them during the night, Ingo Nissen said.
Enel was unable to provide any comment to ZF, because the case entails a complex procedure. Sources with the company, however, said such a case goes through a lengthy and cumbersome procedure and the company is having trouble with developers.
Unfortunately, securing the approval for the 110 kV connection took longer than estimated. The ParkLake developer applied for it eighteen months ago and only got in August. The use of generators costs EUR1,000 per day, because the mall has to do with only the 20 kV connection, Ingo Nissen said.
Dedeman, the leader of the do-it-yourself retail market, with almost EUR1 billion revenue, ran into a similar problem in March 2012, when it complained that Enel had not connected its store in Constanta to the grid in due time, which caused it to incur tens of thousands of euros in additional costs. At the time, its officials said they had applied for a connection to the grid when they had filed all the necessary papers to secure construction permits. Enel Distributie Dobrogea’s explanation for the situation then was that rerouting of power lines was needed. Enel entered Romania in 2005 when it bought the majority stakes in Electrica Dobrogea and Electrica Banat.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)