Vidraru hydropower plant retrofitting, the fifth consecutive failure

The fifth attempt to retrofit the Vidraru hydropower plant, operated by Hidroelectrica, failed. The tender organized in March, in which only one bid had been submitted, that of Electromontaj, the leader of the consortium, and Koncar Engineering Co.Ltd, an engineering company from Croatia, was canceled and the bid was declared non-compliant. The subcontractor, according to data from SICAP, was the Romanian company Butan Grup, specialized in the design, manufacture, assembly and commissioning, mainly, of lifting installations.

The “turnkey” refurbishment of the Vidraru power plant, on Argeș, one of the largest hydropower plants in the country (220 MW – installed power), at an estimated cost of 145 million euros, had been uploaded to SICAP in March. The work required included replacement of equipment, installation, related construction works and new control systems.

Given the complexity of the works to be carried out, Hidroelectrica announced that it is making a rigorous selection of companies interested in taking over the contract. Thus, they must be among the companies with at least 80 million euros in average annual turnover, in the last three years, and prove that they have installed turbines of a certain type.

It should be noted that the modernization of Vidraru has now been attempted for the fifth time, from 2016 to the present, the previous four failing due to the non-compliance of the offers received, like the current one. Meanwhile the hydro plant continued to deteriorate. This unit is important for the entire National Energy System, as it participates in power-frequency regulation, providing system services at the same time.