The contract was concluded with the Association formed by ELECTROMONTAJ (Association Leader) and Koncar – Engineering Co. Ltd. for production and services, with BUTAN GRUP as subcontractor, following the completion of the award procedure by open (public) tender.
The price of the Contract is EUR188 million (excluding VAT) and works are due to be completed in 84 months, according to the execution schedule.
AHE Vidraru, with an installed capacity of 220MW, is located on the right bank of River Arges, in a cavern located 104 m below the river level, with the role of producing 409 GWh/year of electricity by using the hydropower potential available in the Vidraru reservoir and participating in the frequency power regulation in the National Energy System, providing other ancillary services as well.
The acquisition and completion of refurbishment works at AHE Vidraru expects to achieve the proposed objectives and obtain the following benefits:
• increasing the active power of each hydro aggregate from 55 MW to a minimum of 58.8 MW, maintaining the maximum discharged flow of 22.5 cubic meters/s per unit (respectively 90 cubic meters /s total power plant);
• increasing the yields of the hydro aggregates and implicitly the overall efficiency of the site;
• increasing performance and return on investment above the initial level;
• increasing the reliability, availability and safety in operation for all the equipment and installations of the Vidraru Hydropower site while ensuring the volume and quality of the ancillary services provided by HPP;
• introduction of a system that allows centralized monitoring and control from Hidroelectrica’s Dispatch Center (DHA)/ National Dispach center (DEN), thus achieving the premises for increasing the monitoring efficiency and flexibility in operation of the HPP;
• preparing the equipment and installations of the Vidraru Power Plant and the other parts of the entire site for a new operating life cycle.