$125m tender for Islaz hydropower plant

Hidroelectrica will organise a tender to select the company to build the Islaz hydropower station by June. The total investment is worth $125 million, general manager Eugen Pena told Mediafax in Islaz, Olt County yesterday.
The new hydropower station will have 29 MW in installed power and produce 100 GWh a year in addition to the nearly 350 GWh/year derived from pumping water from the Danube.
“The hydropower plant will provide an energy surplus, the safe operation of the Cernavoda plant and the regional development, agriculturally mainly,” said Dan Ioan Popescu, Industry and Resources Ministry, who visited the location of the future plant together with Justice Minister and PSD (Social Democrat Party) Senator of Olt Rodica Stanoiu on Tuesday.
The hydropower plant in Islaz will provide the necessary system services as soon as Unit 2 of the Cernavoda nuclear plant is brought online, as well as flood protection for about 4,000 ha of land in the Olt and Teleorman County. At the same time, pumping water from the Danube by means of reversible turbines installed at the Ipotesti-Islaz power stations will ensure the necessary water supply to irrigate 360,000 ha of farming land.
The building of this station will also lead to the development of the road infrastructure in Southern Oltenia and to the completion of the navigation process on the Slatina-Danube section of the Olt River. The execution of the works will create 2,000-4,000 jobs.
Islaz hydroelectric plant is part of a regional development programme endorsed by the Government in 2002, which also includes the retooling of five other hydro stations in the Ipotesti-Izbiceni sector. The total investment for the six units is worth about $240 million.
The works on the Islaz hydropower plant are scheduled to take up three years and a half, with Hidroelectrica set to bear all the costs.