With a nameplate capacity of 430 MW, the plant will provide enough electricity for one million households and help consolidate state-run Romgaz’s status as a key actor on the power market, with about 3% to 4% share of the electricity production of the country.
Romgaz’s project is the biggest investment of the Romanian government in electricity generation in ten years, and the Iernut plant is all the more important since it will be able balance the system in the northern region of the country where there is a production deficit. It is the only project for the time being that will be using Black Sea gas and convert it into a value added product. The last major investment of the government in energy generation was Reactor 2 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, a project completed in 2007.
“The arrival of this generator in Constanta is a milestone,” said Bela Balazs, energy management director with Romgaz, who is the company’s representative in charge of the Iernut power plant project.
A generator, a key part of the entire project left Constanta harbor for Iernut at the end of last week. The generator weights 124 tons, the company said. The first gas turbines arrived at the end of December.
National Transmission Company Transelectrica data show nuclear reactors, thermoelectric power plants, hydropower and wind power plants and solar parks with a capacity of 20,890 MW feed electricity into the system. This is the nameplate capacity, however, as only about 15,000 MW are active, and most of it installed in teh south of the country.
Romgaz’s power plant can find its place in the system considering the visible reduction of the installed capacity in coal-fired power plants, a trend that may become even stronger by 2021 due to harsher environmental protection requirements.
“We believe this investment is very important for the energy system. On the one hand, it will allow us to use the natural gas in Romania and one source may be the Black Sea. This plant is really important for the operation of the national energy system. The northern part of the country lacks in power, so this plant may be good for balancing, it is a back-up solution to renewables,” the Romgaz official explained.
According to Wind Europe, gas power plants have the highest generation capacity in the European Union, more than 20% of the total, followed by wind farms. The trend is for wind farm capacity to increase and replace gas power plants. Romania, however, has many coal-fired power plants that have to be replaced or upgraded, so natural gas remains an option.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)