Romania’s grid operator ready to join project company for power cable under Black Sea

The shareholders of Romania’s power grid operator Transelectrica (BVB: TEL), controlled (58%) by the Government, endorsed the company’s participation in the project aimed at bringing “green and affordable” electricity from the Caspian Sea region through a 1,200-km long submarine cable that would cross the Black Sea to reach Hungary at the other end.

“For Romania, a new interconnection will mean access to a new market, strengthening the security of the national energy system and, in the medium and long term, greener energy, at a more affordable price, for all Romanians,″ the Romanian Energy minister Sebastian Burduja said earlier this year on an optimistic tone not shared by all analysts.

The new joint venture, whose name is not yet known, will have its registered office in Romania, in Bucharest.

A memorandum was signed in May between Transelectrica and the counterpart operators of the other countries involved in the project, AzerEnerji (Azerbaijan), Georgian State Electrosystem (Georgia), and MVM (Hungary), for the set up of the project company.

The submarine cable should make it possible to transfer electricity at a rate of 1GW.

According to a preliminary estimate by the Georgian transmission and system operator, the total investment required to build the submarine cable could exceed EUR 2bn, and commissioning could take place at the end of 2029.

(Photo: Kemaltaner | Dreamstime.com)