The European Commission has approved a Romanian plan to spend EUR 254 million of its structural funds on repairing the citywide district heating system in Bucharest.
Bucharest has a total of 950 km of main lines and almost 3,000 km of secondary lines, which supply 1.2 million people in 562,000 apartments in 8,200 apartment blocks. It is the second largest district heating system in the world after Moscow.
In 2019, it was found that Radet, the state-owned company that operates the system, was losing up to 2,000 tons of hot water per hour (see further reading).
Ciprian Ciucu, a member of the Bucharest Council, said at the time: “The Radet network is in a very bad state and therefore the pressure must be increased so that the heat can reach the houses. And when the pressure increases, other damage occurs. It is a doom-loop. “
The problems have continued since then. According to the Romanian Insider website, this winter thousands of households in Bucharest were without heating or hot water, sometimes for several days in a row, due to burst pipes and network failures.
The repair work is aimed at restoring the integrity of the pipes that distribute the hot water. In particular, the main heat transfer lines will be replaced, replacing around 10% of the total length of the network.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, said: “This EUR 254 million aid, funded by the EU Structural Funds, will help Romania meet its energy efficiency goals and reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions without unduly competition distort. ”
Image: Radet workers in action in Bucharest (Radets)
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