Kidričevo - The construction of the 2x400 kilovolt Cirkovce-Pince transmission line that connects Slovenia and Hungary is but completed after almost two years of work and the line is currently in operation as part of acceptance testing and commissioning.

The work on the project is not yet fully completed, which will result in intermittent disconnection of the transmission line, national grid operator ELES said in a press release.

The line, which is a part of the Slovenia-Hungary-Croatia electricity connection, will be included in the cross-border capacity calculation process from 6 July onwards.

The newly-built 80-kilometre line running from Cirkovce near the town of Ptuj towards Pince on the border with Hungary creates the first cross-border link between Slovenia's and Hungary's national grids, as well as increases Slovenia's electricity system reliability and import capacity.

It will contribute to an even stronger connection of the Slovenian, Hungarian and Croatian markets to the common EU internal electricity market, ELES added.

Negotiations for the construction of the Slovenia-Hungary-Croatia grid connection started already in the mid-1990s, and the Cirkovce-Pince transmission line was the last stage of this project. Slovenia was the last neighbouring country with which Hungary did not have a power line connection.

The transmission line was one of the Slovenian government's main priorities in energy infrastructure development, and the construction work started in August 2020. A ground-breaking ceremony was held in Kidričevo in October 2020 and attended by previous Prime Minister Janez Janša, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman.