Romania, Bulgaria to Build Two Hydropower Plants on Danube

Romania and Bulgaria plan to build two hydropower plants on the Danube to be used jointly on the model of the Iron Gates hydropower plants operated jointly by Romania and Serbia, according to a document published on Tuesday by the Bulgarian government.

Bulgaria and Romania will build the two plants through the Romanian state company Hidroelectrica. Construction of the plants is included in Bulgaria's strategy for developing the energy sector until 2053, elaborated by the Bulgarian Energy minister, Rosen Hristov.

The first joint plant, with a capacity of 840 MW and to be located between Nicopole in Bulgaria and Turnu Magurele in Romania, already has feasibility studies and an evaluation as a basis.

The second plant is to be located in Silistra, Bulgaria, near Calarasi, Romania, but studies have only just begun there.

The two sides have already held several meetings involving the energy ministers from Romania and Bulgaria. It is expected that the two states will sign a memorandum for the project next month. Construction of the projects is estimated to take five to six years.

Bulgaria's new energy strategy also includes a corridor for the transport of electricity through Romania and Slovakia to Hungary as well as increasing the capacity of transmission lines with Turkey.

Romania and Bulgaria also want to intensify construction of new bridges between the two countries to increase the interconnection of the road infrastructure and facilitate the road traffic of goods to the Bulgarian ports of Burgas and Varna on the Black Sea.

However, the Romanian media wrote that Romania fears these new bridges could affect the traffic of goods through Romania's own port of Constanta.

Constanta has the disadvantage of not being...