Five Chinese consortia were preparing to win a USD 1.1 billion pumped hydro storage facility, obsolete for 30 years, Greentech Media reported.
The selected contractor should launch works on the 1 GW Tarniţa – Lăpuștești hydroelectric power station in Cluj county before the end of the year. Hidro Tarniţa SA, the project developer, claims the five- to seven-year construction work will create nearly 4,050 jobs.
The Balkan state only has the 53 GW pumped hydro unit at Sprâncenata in Giurgiu. The construction of a plant at Tarniţa lake in Someșul Cald basin has been in plans since 1985. The location was one of 17 which were halted following a 10-year study by the Romanian Institute of Hydro Energy Studies and Design.
The state should have increased the company’s capital by EUR 17 million last year by issuing new shares to other state energy companies, but the process failed, Mediafax agency reported.