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Romania Electric Power
Enormous investments made in the sector following World
War II
resulted in dramatic gains in capacity and output (see
table 9,
Appendix). Despite the impressive growth in output,
averaging 8.3
percent annually between 1966 and 1985, however, the power
industry
did not keep pace with overall industrial growth, which
averaged
9.5 percent annually during the same period. The result
was an
acute and worsening energy deficit.
Thermal power plants burning fossil fuels accounted for
more
than 80 percent of electricity output in the mid-1980s,
and the
development program envisioned an installed capacity of
16,518
megawatts at such plants by 1990. The largest thermal
plants
operating in the mid-1980s were located at Rovinari in
Gorj
judet, (1,720 megawatts), Turceni in Gorj
judet,
(1,650 megawatts), Braila (1,290 megawatts), Mintia in
Hunedoara
judet, (1,260 megawatts), Craiova (980 megawatts),
Deva
(840 megawatts), Ludus in Cluj judet, (800
megawatts),
Borzesti in Botosani judet, (650 megawatts), Galati
(320
megawatts), and Bucharest (300 megawatts). After 1965,
thermal
plants producing both heat and electricity were favored,
and by
1984 their combined capacity exceeded 6,100
megawatts--roughly onethird of total installed capacity. A serious problem for
thermal
plants during the 1980s was the deteriorating quality of
lignite
fuel, which was damaging equipment and causing frequent
shutdowns.
At the start of the 1988-89 peak-demand season, only 45 to
50
percent of total installed generating capacity was
operational.
Capitalizing on the country's considerable
hydroelectric
potential, the government built some 100 hydroelectric
plants
between 1965 and 1985, bringing total capacity to 4,421
megawatts.
Nevertheless, it was estimated in early 1989 that only 35
percent
of the technically feasible hydroelectric potential had
been
tapped. The most important project was the 2,100-megawatt
Iron
Gates I complex on the Danube. Built in collaboration with
Yugoslavia, which operated a twin plant on the right bank,
the
project was completed in 1972. In 1977 the two countries
began work
on a much smaller Iron Gates II project (sixteen
twenty-seven-
megawatt generating units). Other important projects were
the 220-
megawatt Gheorghiu-Dej plant on the Arges River and a
chain of
fourteen smaller plants downstream with a combined
capacity of 179
megawatts; the V.I. Lenin complex of twelve plants on the
Bistrita
River; a chain of plants along the 737-kilometer Olt River
totalling more than 1,200 megawatts; a chain of sixteen
plants on
the Mare River with a total capacity of 536 megawatts; and
numerous
stations along the Buzau, Jiu, Prut, and other rivers.
To offset declining petroleum and gas reserves, the PCR
pinned
its hopes on nuclear power. But these hopes were partially
frustrated by repeated setbacks in the construction of the
first
nuclear power plant at Cernavoda, which appeared unlikely
to
become operational before 1992. The Cernavoda plant would
use five
660-megawatt Canadian-built reactors. The Canadians also
had been
engaged to build a nuclear station at Victoria-Brasov. In
1982 a
contract was signed with the Soviet Union to build the
Moldova
nuclear plant, which would have three 1,000-megawatt
reactors. And
preparatory work began in March 1986 for construction of a
nuclear
plant at Piatra Neamt, to be equipped largely by the
Soviet Union.
As late as 1985, the government was anticipating that
nuclear
plants would be supplying 20 percent of the nation's
electricity by
1990, when some 4,500 megawatts of capacity would be on
line, but
the long-range goal of building sixteen nuclear plants by
2000
appeared unattainable.
Geothermal, solar, wind, methane, and small
hydroelectric
installations produced the energy equivalent of nearly
450,000 tons
of conventional fuel during the first three years of the
Eighth
Five-Year Plan (1986-90). The plan called for starting up
some 240
alternative-energy installations during this period,
including 125
solar and 70 methane plants. Methane accounted for over 80
percent
of nonconventional energy production. In 1989 alternative
energy
sources were expected to double their output. The
development
program anticipated that such sources would contribute
one-fifth of
total energy capacity in 1995, when more than 60 percent
of the
geothermal, nearly 50 percent of the methane, and 63
percent of the
small-stream hydroelectric potential would have been
harnessed.
A transmission grid of 110-, 220-, and 400-kilovolt
lines with
a total length of about 27,000 kilometers in the mid-1980s
distributed electricity throughout the country. Integrated
into
Comecon's Peace Unified Power System, the Romanian
network was
connected to the national grids of all neighboring states.
In 1988
a 750-kilovolt transmission line built jointly with the
Soviet
Union and Bulgaria delivered some 5 billion kilowatt-hours
of
electricity to Romania from the South Ukraine Nuclear
Power
Station.
Data as of July 1989
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