Delgaz Grid has an investment budget of 126 million Euro, up by 11 percent in 2021

Delgaz Grid, a member company of the E.ON Romania Group, will invest 612 million RON (126 million Euro) this year, a priority being the modernization and expansion of the natural gas and electricity distribution networks. The budget allocated to investments is 11% higher than the previous year, being also the largest in the last 16 years, since E.ON entered the Romanian energy market. In 2020, the company invested 550 million RON (114 million euros), especially for the modernization of the distribution system.

Investments 2020

• Natural gas – over 264 million RON (55 million euros) were invested, the distribution system being rehabilitated and modernized over a length of 273 km. 11 new natural gas metering stations were put into operation and two more were upgraded. At the same time, the network was extended by 225 km, the value of the investment being about 40 million RON (8 million euros) and about 49,000 new consumers were connected. Also, a new distribution of natural gas was established in Săliște, Sibiu County.

• Electricity – the value of investments was approximately 286 million RON (59 million euros, of which 2.2 million euros from European funds). The investments were directed towards the modernization and rehabilitation of the electrical networks, the automation of the distribution system, the replacement of transformers and the intelligent metering. Last year, 430 km of the length of the electricity network in the Delgaz Grid operating area were modernized, including through the installation of automated equipment. 37 transformer stations were modernized, of which 20 were integrated into SCADA. At the same time, over 350 transformation stations were modernized, 41 units being integrated in SCADA. Also last year, the network was expanded by 486 km and about 20,000 new consumers were connected.

Network digitization

• Transformation stations – at the end of last year, a project of about 12.5 million RON was completed, carried out over two years, which aimed at the modernization and integration in SCADA of 13 transformation stations. By the end of 2020, of the 134 substations operated by the company, 122 had been modernized and integrated (in whole or in part) into SCADA.

• SMART Metering – by the end of 2020, through successive investment programs, in recent years about 327,000 SMART meters have been installed to consumers in over 750 localities in Moldova. Most units were installed in Bacău and Neamț counties, where 64% and 44% of customers, respectively, benefit from smart metering.

Digitization of customer service

• The Delgaz Access platform offers the company’s customers ways to interact in order to connect to the natural gas and electricity distribution system, data necessary for the supplier change process in the context of energy market liberalization, as well as other useful information.

Investments 2021

This year the company aims to invest 612 million RON (126 million euros), 11% more than the previous year.

• Natural gas – investments of 285 million RON (58 million euros) are foreseen, increasing by 8% compared to 2020, the main objective being the modernization of natural gas pipelines and connections (through replacement and cathodic protection). At the same time, in order to improve the quality of the service, measuring regulation stations (SRM) will be modernized. Another priority for this year is to expand the gas distribution system and connect new consumers.

• Electricity – investments amounting to 327 million RON (67 million euros) are planned, increasing by 15% compared to 2020, of which 26.5 million RON (5.4 million euros) represent EU funds, mainly for further implementation of SCADA and automation of urban and rural distribution system, SMART metering, modernization of overhead networks, substations and substations, expansion of the distribution network to connect new consumers, as well as to meet the requirements of the performance standard.

• SMART Metering – this year we set out to install over 22,000 smart meters and so about 22% of Delgaz Grid customers will have SMART metering. For the period 2021-2028, we intend to install another 387,000 meters, which means that 45% of customers will have smart meters installed by the end of 2028.

Investment projects with European funds

• European funds – accessing European funding sources is a priority for the company in order to achieve the objectives of modernization and digitization of electricity distribution infrastructure. At this moment, five projects, worth 191.5 million RON, with co-financing of 118.7 million RON, are in different stages of implementation. Two of them aim at modernizing and integrating in SCADA eight transformer stations in Iași and Vaslui counties, another aims at installing 10,000 smart meters for consumers in Iași, and the most recently approved project aims to implement an intelligent control system of the electricity distribution network (ADMS) in a homogeneous area with predominantly household consumers from Suceava. Also, Delgaz Grid is implementing a project that aims at cyber security objectives in a total amount of 1 million RON, of which 0.7 million RON is non-reimbursable co-financing. At the same time, the company submitted four projects worth about 181 million RON, which are in different stages of the evaluation process at the level of the responsible authorities.