HYDROELECTRIC PLANTS

At the moment, there are five hydroelectric plants working; they are located in the beautiful mountain area of the Maramures region, in Romania.

They belong to ESPE ENERGIA, a company in the Group, which is also the first private company in this sector in Romania

Maramures is a region rich of rivers; its water potential, therefore, lends itself to being exploited for producing hydroelectric power.

These plants are supplied by the river Firita and are scattered throughout a whole valley.

They were built in various periods and have been working for decades; through the years, part of them have continued producing energy, whereas some others have been shut down.

In 2004, a new age started for them.

ESPE ENERGIA, on the basis of the experience the Group it belongs to has achieved in many years in the hydroelectric sector, and by means of a suitable mid-term industrial plan, aims to recover what is not working, implement optimisation measures and give production new momentum.

Major investments have been planned and implementations have been developed in a perfect combination; results were quick to appear and effects were way beyond expectations.

When it was acquired, the power installed was approximately 4 MW, for a yearly production average of 8,000,000 KWh; today, having reached stable working conditions, the overall power is 7 MW, for a yearly production average of 16,000,000 KWh.

This meant a 75% increase on the power installed and a 100% increase in the yearly production average.

All plants are equipped with the most up-to-date systems for automated production, system management and control.

Intake structures are endowed with suitable mechanisms to manage, in the best possible way, any different water situation; wherever it was deemed necessary, automatic grate cleaners and motorised floodgates were installed in order to clean and manage water flows.

The various stations are video-controlled in order to monitor them continuously and centrally.

Furthermore, video-controls, the key parameters which affect production, production itself and other fundamental management data are viewable remotely, in order to simplify remote control.

On the wake of this positive result, ESPE ENERGIA is already working to keep on making important and considerable investments in Muramures as well as in other regions; these investments can certainly give a major contribution to enrich the economic potential of the Group and that of the regions involved.