Although it is in operation since 1986, hydropower plant Raul Mare Rezetat could never produce electricity at the designed capacity. From the very beginning, the two units of local production, with design and execution defects, could only be used at a maximum capacity of 100 MW each.
However, 45 years after the commissioning, the plant’s reservoir – Gura Apelor lake was filled to the projected parameters last week. Together with the launched tender for the plant’s reconstruction, HPP Raul Mare Retezat could finally be operating at full capacity in 4 to 5 years.
Launched in April 2021, the tender is now in the stage of technical analysis of the only offer that met the preliminary criteria. The offer was submitted by a consortium led by Voith Hydro. Once the technical conditions are established, at the earliest in the spring of 2022, the financial framework will be finalized, within a budget of almost 77 million euros. The investment will then be prepared in about 12 months, and the actual works will take another 3 years.
The reconstruction will include the manufacture, installation and commissioning of the hydraulic turbine, electric generators, SCADA automation systems, as well as other hydromechanical equipment. Following the reconstruction, the installed capacity of the hydropower plant will be increases from a maximum of 200 MW to 335 MW, a gain of about 67 %, equivalent to the installed capacity of the entire chain of small hydropower plants downstream from HPP Raul Mare Retezat.
