Equipment and services heading for $550 million

The Romanian market of energy equipment and services will increase to $550 million in 2003, 10% more than last year, according to Peter Simon, president of ABB Romania, one of the leading companies in the industry.

“We feel that the domestic market is growing, also due to the emergence of new players or to the expansion of some companies such as General Electric or Jakobsen,” Simon says.

“The competition has become fiercer in the past years. ABB, Alstom and Siemens were the first to enter the market. But General Electric, VA Tech and the Japanese companies (Itochu, Toshiba and Mitsubishi) are now also bidding in the auctions,” claims Jean Constantinescu, general director of Transelectrica, the national power supplier.

The company signed a 6 million-euro deal with General Electric for the command-control terminals at Transelectrica branches. Jakobsen Elektro (Norway), a new player on the market, signed a deal with Romelectro (Romania) last week. The contract is worth 18.5 million euros and aims at modernising a power plant.

Transelectrica’s project in Rosiori will be the first operation developed by Jakobsen Elektro in Romania, but the Norwegian company is planning to grow on the Romanian market, according to company officials.

The high-voltage equipment accounts for almost one third of the estimated value of the market, with Transelectrica and Electrica as the main beneficiaries. The other orders come from power companies such as Termoelectrica, Hiodroelectrica or Nuclearelectrica, but also from clients in the industrial sector: European Drinks, Lafarge Romcim and Kronospan.

Transelectrica alone manages an investment budget of 119 million euros, whereas repairs are worth 30 million euros. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro