Romania and Bulgaria resume negotiations for the construction of a new hydroelectric plant on the Danube

By RBJ
Romania and Bulgaria will resume negotiations to build the hydropower plant from Turnu Măgurele – Nicopol, announced the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu.
“The hydrotechnical project will have 840 MW of installed power, of which 420 MW is the Romanian part, with a total production of 4400 GW per year, respectively 2200 GW for Romania. Today we agreed with the Minister of Energy from Bulgaria, Rosen Hristov, that it is a necessary project , very important for ensuring energy independence and security. I had these discussions with Minister Hristov at the 26th Conference organized by the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe with the theme Energy & Development 2022, in Athens,” he wrote the minister on Tuesday, on his Facebook page.
It is an old project, dating back 50 years. The projects existed, but were not put into practice.
In the 70s, the Bulgarians withdrew from the project because they preferred to build the Kozlodui nuclear power plant together with the Russians.
For over 10 years, there has been an MoU between Romania and Bulgaria for the construction of a new electrical installation on the Danube in the area of ​​an older site: Turnu Magurele – Nicopole. It is a location where there were agreements at the state level. Romania organized the construction site in 1980 – 1982, but the Bulgarians gave up, built the nuclear power plant and abandoned the respective project.
Two large hydropower plants are being built on the Romanian side of the Danube.
The Hydropower and Navigation System Portile de Fier I is located on the Danube at km 943 and was designed and executed in collaboration with the Serbian side.
The construction of the Iron Gates I System began on September 7, 1964. The objective consisted of two hydroelectric plants with six hydro-aggregates each with high-capacity Kaplan turbines, two locks with dimensions of 310 m x 34 m (one for each side) and a spillway dam with 14 spillways (7 for each side). The first objective put into operation on the Romanian side was the sluice, on August 14, 1969. The aggregates from the power plant were put into operation first on August 14, 1970, and the last in December 1971.
The Hydroelectric Power Plant at Portile de Fier I has, after the refurbishment, an annual project electricity production of 5,241,000 Mwh in the average hydrological year, which represents about 10% of the national production. In addition, the central office provides almost half of the technological system services in Romania.
The Portile de Fier II Hydropower and Navigation System is located on the Danube at km 853, in the area of ​​the Romanian island Ostrovul Mare and was also designed and executed in collaboration with the Serbian side.
The construction of the Iron Gates II System began in 1977 with the signing of the Agreement between the Governments of Romania and the former Yugoslavia. The objective is composed of a basic plant with 16 bulb-type aggregates (8 for each part put into operation between 1984 and 1986), two additional plants (functional since 1994, the Romanian one, respectively since 2000, the Serbian one), three locks (two on the Romanian side and one on the Serbian side) and two spillway dams.