As an initial step, the necessary investments for refurbishing the existing equipment and interface lines have been identified. It has to be borne in mind that even if the lines and substations already exist, they have not been in operation for several years since the disconnection of the former CENTREL countries, as well as those in Romania and Bulgaria. The necessary refurbishments of the interface lines are estimated at a total sum of € 280m, of which € 180m is dedicated to the refurbishments in the IPS/UPS interface countries.
In order to improve the congested areas in the UCTE, results from a probabilistic analysis have estimated that the necessary investments in the UCTE amount to € 240m.
Additionally, the synchronous coupling requires an exchange of operational data between both synchronous blocks. Therefore, additional communication equipment has to be installed and the protection schemes have to be partially updated. These measures are estimated to come to some € 14m.
