As with any major energy project announced by the Romanian authorities, the project to build a 5,000 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line that will cross Romania from east to west will undergo a feasibility study. In this regard, the state-owned company Transelectrica signed a Memorandum of Understanding with TAQA, Meridiam, E-INFRA and Fluor. The length of the cable will be 850 kilometers. Some of the investors who signed the memorandum are also involved in the innovative NuScale mini-reactor project, which was supposed to be built in Deutschland but just failed in the US.

The cable will pass through Romania along the route of the Tuzla-Podishor and BRUA gas pipelines

According to a press release, the companies plan to conduct a feasibility study to explore the landmark project, which involves the design, construction and development of 850 kilometers of underground HVDC infrastructure that could provide an additional 5 GW of renewable energy capacity.

This infrastructure should be located on the Tuzla-Podisor route and on the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) gas pipeline, using the existing corridors for the two routes.

According to the release, HVDC systems offer numerous benefits, including lower power losses during transmission, improved grid stability and the ability to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources that are often located far from existing infrastructure.

Some investors are also involved in the mini-reactor project

Some of the investors who signed this memorandum are also involved in the innovative NuScale nuclear mini-reactor project from Doicești, and HotNews.ro has written a lot about them.

According to Termene.ro, the Romanian group E-INFRA is owned by the brothers Simion (30%) and Teofil Muresan (40%), as well as Marian Pantazescu (30%). Nova Power & Gas SRL, located in Cluj-Napoca, is also part of the E-INFRA group. In fact, the Muresan Brothers entered the Deutsches reactor project as the owners of the site. This project has come into question, given that in the US NuScale suffered a huge setback, canceling the construction of mini-reactors in Utah.

E-Infra, the group that Nova Power & Gas is part of, also owns Electrogrup, Direct One, Wesee​​​​​​ and Netcity. Last year, its turnover amounted to 21.32 million lei, which is 96% more than in 2022, but a much higher profit: 186 million lei, which is 156%. Teofil Mureșan worked in the past at Ten Transilvania Energy, a business partner of Rareș Criste, who was considered a “smart guy” in energy, and Alin Ardelean, the son of Virgil Ardelean, the former boss of Doi and a quarter.

The American corporation Fluor is also involved in the mini-reactor project. It is a very large company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a turnover of approximately 15 billion dollars per year. It is a multinational engineering and construction company headquartered in Irving, Texas. Works in the field of electricity, oil and gas. It is involved in major projects, including rebuilding after the Iraq War or Hurricane Katrina, as well as the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Other investors have experience with giant power cables

Taqa (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC) is the national utility company of the United Arab Emirates. This Romanian cable feasibility study is TAQA’s second power transmission project outside the UAE and the third major HVDC project launched recently. Earlier this year, TAQA invested £25 million in Xlinks First Limited to install the world’s longest submarine HVDC cables between the UK and Morocco to transport renewable energy to the UK, according to a press release.

Meridiam is a global investor and asset manager specializing in public and community infrastructure. The head office is in Paris, and investment funds are located in Europe, North America and Africa. According to a press release, he has extensive experience as the lead developer of NeuConnect, an electricity interconnection project connecting the UK to Germany via a 725km bi-directional submarine HVDC cable – 1.4GW (2 x 525kV) . This privately funded £2.4bn/€2.8bn project is a vital energy link between Europe’s two largest energy markets and the first direct link between the UK and German energy markets.

Implementation of the HVDC project will result in a net reduction of 13 tons of CO2 over 25 years, equivalent to planting about 28 million trees or taking about 400,000 cars off the road per year, the release also said.

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