Micro-Hydropower Unit for the benefit of Roman Municipality Community

By project ENERSELVES

Published on 04 June 2018

Austria

Burgenland

About this good practice

The land on which the project was implemented includes a total area of 128,968 m2 of which 75,766 m2 are owned by Roman Municipality, 1,069 m2 are subject to concession from neighboring Horia Commune and 52,133 m2 rented from the Romanian Water Administration Company.
Construction components: 1 technical block, 1 stand - pneumatic clamp (water lock); 2 micro-aggregates (capsulated turbines, Kaplan, type VLH ∅ 3,550 mm). The installed water flow is of 28.80 m3/s (2x14.4 m3/s). The annual power capacity is 3 GWh and the installed power is 580kW (2 turbines x 290 Kw). The purpose of the investment was to provide the energy supply for the municipality needs: public lightning and public buildings – mainly all consumers subordinated to municipality (administrative buildings, schools, kindergartens, high schools, public libraries, etc). The total need of energy related to public buildings is of 3.5 GWh/year so the balance of 0.5 GWh (or even more during dry years) was intended to be taken over from the national grid.

Resources needed

The project was funded by Increased Economic Competitiveness Sectorial Operational Program 2007-2013. The total value of the investment was 5.57 million Euro (25,89 million Romanian Lei), of which only 335,147 Euro represented the financial contribution of the Municipality of Roman.

Evidence of success

This investment created 8 new jobs and during 2015-2016 the unit produced about 2,900 MWh covering exclusively the consumption of public lighting, schools and other public institutions and not intended for sale to third parties. The amount saved by the City Hall in the first half of 2017 was of about 66,700 Euro. This investment was included into the portfolio of E.ON Energy Globe Award Romania 2017, competition which awards prizes to the best investments using RES.

Potential for learning or transfer

Since March 2015, the Municipality of Roman is capable to produce its own electricity for public lighting and for the supply of buildings belonging to the local public administration, becoming the first local public administration in the country which owns the electricity production facility and produces electricity using a micro-hydro power plant. In addition to the savings made by the municipality in terms of the produced energy, the construction of the hydroelectric power plant can take up floods in case of upstream flow increases, preventing flooding of the area through its low accumulation. On the other hand, the accumulation of the hydroelectric power plant has potential for tourism and recreational capitalization through the active involvement of the local business environment. The estimated amortization of the money allocated by the municipality is foreseen to be reached in 5 to 6 years.