Transelectrica sets EUR 2.2 billion grid plan through 2035

Romanian transmission system operator Transelectrica has set out an expansive capital allocation strategy, committing EUR 2.2 billion towards modernising national electricity transmission infrastructure through 2035. A substantial portion of this capital expenditure targets crossborder interconnections linking the Romanian network with neighbouring systems in Hungary, Moldova, and Serbia, alongside comprehensive station refurbishment and line reinforcements across the domestic high-voltage footprint.

This transmission expansion reflects structural pressures mounting across the regional grid. Accelerated renewable generation deployment in eastern and southern Romania requires increased transfer capacity to dispatch electricity towards domestic industrial centres and neighbouring European power markets. Upgrading crossborder links is equally vital for integrating Moldova into the continental synchronous area, enhancing regional energy security, and reinforcing transit capacity with Serbia and Hungary. Achieving these interconnector objectives requires major substation developments, including new substation bays, transformer replacements, reactive power compensation units, and switchgear modernisations across strategic border nodes.

For engineering and transmission teams, executing network reinforcement on this scale introduces operational friction. High-voltage substations functioning as crossborder interchange nodes must handle shifting power flows and elevated short-circuit levels as new lines enter service. Autotransformers and power transformers situated at critical border substations face severe thermal cycling and dynamic stress, accelerating insulation degradation and heightening the need for dissolved gas monitoring and online condition assessment. Furthermore, integrating new transmission corridors requires multiple planned circuit and bay outages, compressing maintenance windows for nearby industrial substations and power plants that depend on continuous transmission access.

Supply chain pressures will also test regional delivery timelines. With transmission operators across Europe pursuing parallel grid upgrades, procurement lead times for high-voltage power transformers, gas-insulated switchgear, and substation control systems remain severely stretched. Transelectrica and regional project developers must secure manufacturing slots early to prevent major project slippages through 2035.

What this means for asset owners in the Balkans and the Black Sea region: Substation and generation plant operators across Romania and neighbouring border areas face heightened outage coordination risks during network modernisations leading up to 2035. Transmission works and crossborder interconnection cut-ins will constrain local redundancy, requiring facility managers to align transformer overhauls with restricted grid outage windows while planning for extended procurement lead times on major high-voltage substation switchgear and replacement units.