Romania’s Transelectrica Wins €67 Million EU Grant for Dual Grid Upgrade

Romania’s state-owned transmission operator Transelectrica has obtained €67 million — more than 351 million lei — through the EU Modernisation Fund, split across two infrastructure projects designed to strengthen the national grid and expand its capacity to absorb renewable power.

The first project, an extension of the DigiTEL smart-line programme, receives €18.62 million to deploy real-time online monitoring across 27 overhead lines. The system relies on dynamic line rating — a weather-aware technology that continuously recalculates transmission capacity and reduces the risk of overloads.

The second and larger tranche, worth €48.35 million, targets the Gutinaș substation in the Moldavia region. Engineers will install a ±150 MVAr STATCOM device on the 400 kV busbar, enabling rapid reactive-power balancing and cutting technical losses by an estimated 3,283 MWh per year. According to the operator, the upgrade will create capacity for roughly 500 MW of additional renewable generation to connect to the grid.

The Gutinaș project holds EU Project of Common Interest status and forms part of the CARMEN cross-border initiative. Transelectrica described the investment as a building block of its long-term modernisation strategy, aligned with both national energy-transition goals and broader European grid-readiness objectives.

The grants highlight how Central and Eastern European transmission operators are drawing on EU instruments to prepare ageing networks for the surge in wind and solar capacity expected over the coming decade.

Source: Balkan Green Energy News