Rețele Electrice România, part of the PPC group in Romania, has completed the modernization works for the 110/20 kV Freidorf transformer substation, which serves around 9,000 customers in the area of the same name in the Timișoara City. The investment of 26 million lei is part of the company’s strategy to increase the quality and resilience of the electricity distribution service in its areas of responsibility.
“This modernization project is part of our company’s strategy to constantly modernize and digitalize the electricity distribution network. Through such projects, we contribute to building an energy infrastructure with an increased degree of resilience and reliability, tailored to customers’ needs, in order to support the development of the community we are part of,” said Mihai Pește, General Director of Reţele Electrice România.
The 110/20 kV Freidorf transformer substation was built in 1979, and its importance in the power supply scheme of Timișoara and its peri-urban area stems from the fact that it can take over, in the event of unplanned interruptions, the power supply of adjacent stations, thus supplying up to 60,000 customers.
The substation’s modernization works began in April 2024. The works involved replacing both the primary equipment that ensures the proper functioning of the transformer station, as well as the secondary protections and circuits. The Freidorf substation is equipped with 2 transformers of 110/20 kV with a power of 25MVA each, 2 overhead line (OHL) bays of 110 kV, 17 medium-voltage bays of 20 kV each, 1 coupling bay of 20 kV, 2 neutral treatment group bays and internal services of 20/0.4kV.
The equipment replaced during the modernization works includes a 110/20 kV power transformer; all 20 kV medium-voltage bays, the internal services, the medium-voltage network’s neutral treatment groups and the associated arc suppression coils. In addition, the secondary circuits and electromechanical protections were replaced with digital protections, both for the 110 kV line bays and the 110/20 kV transformers, as well as those for the medium-voltage bays. The main benefit of all these works is the improvement of the quality of the electricity distribution service for consumers and the resilience of the supply, so that any power interruptions are as short as possible.