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Kidričevo, 14^th of October 2020 – ELES ceremonially marked the beginning of the construction of the transmission line Cirkovce–Pince, which will finally connect the Slovenian transmission network with the Hungarian transmission network. This will increase the operating reliability of the Slovenian transmission network, simplify access to energy sources from the north and the east, as well as make it possible to include larger amounts of renewable sources from the entire region into the network.

In September, ELES began its largest investment into the transmission network infrastructure in the history of the company. The investment is worth 150 million Euros and they have strived for it for a good 20 years, as pointed out by the director of ELES, mag Aleksander Mervar. “This project is of great importance not only for Slovenia but also for the wider region and Europe. That is why this project was included on the list of Projects of Common Interests in 2015, while in 2019 we managed to acquire 50 million EU funds.” He added that the key to success was the cooperation between ELES teams as well as cooperation with state institutions and operator MAVIR from Hungary and operator from Croatia, HOPS. “Without this cooperation this project would surely not be happening today,” concluded Mervar and thanked everyone who contributed in any way that the field work finally began after twenty years.

This is a project that will connect three countries, because one transmission line system will be electrically connected to RTP Heviz in Hungary and the other to RTP Žerjavinec in Croatia and will have numerous positive effect for the wider region. This event was therefore also attended by the  Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Janša, Prime Minister of the Hungary Viktor Orbán, and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, dr. Gordan Grlić Radman. They addressed the attendees and stressed the importance of such development for the society and economy.

The event concluded with a symbolic unveiling of the construction board, which was done by the director of ELES, Aleksander Mervar. The preparation work for the route of the transmission line began already in September, but due to the changed dynamics of the project, construction work will most likely begin simultaneously on several parts of the route and will be concluded by the end of 2021.