New power generation facilities of 1,373 MW are expected to be put into operation by the end of 2024, which means that in 2024 Romania will have another 1,700 MW in the grid, which is three times more than in 2023 and 30 times more than two years ago, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja told a news conference on Wednesday.

„That means that in the Romanian energy sector, all the investment projects, the European programmes that we have put into operation, are bearing fruit. These new facilities are beginning to be seen,” Burduja said.

Among the important projects, he mentioned Group 5 Rovinari, an investment project 10 years overdue, which, according to Wednesday’s assessment, could be commissioned by the end of September.

„That means 330 MW for the national grid, a particularly important contribution.”

On the hydrocarbons side, the minister talked about a long overdue investment at Iernut, for which there is a schedule from the entrepreneur Duro Felguera and, at this moment, the project looks like it could become operational, at least partially, this year.

„Compared with the initial schedule of the entrepreneurs, there are certain delays. Our objective at the moment is to put into operation at least half of the Iernut thermal power plant this year.”

Burduja mentioned another important investment under the Romanian-Kazakh Fund, namely a cogeneration plant at Midia, where works are almost 95% completed. There will be up to 70 MW, „a gas-fired flexible group, a very necessary group.”

At the same time, he pointed out that a spectacular evolution is very clear in the area of photovoltaic panels, from which another 683 MW are expected by the end of 2024, to which 228 already in operation are added.

„That’s almost 1,000 brand new MW of solar power this year. Wind power, a little less, 76 MW by the end of the year and, very importantly, another 84 MW of storage. These are advanced projects, which means that at the end of this year we could have somewhere around 110 MW of storage put into operation this year, battery storage.”

Burduja added that the Energy Ministry has entered the last stage of evaluation with a call of EUR 80 million under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) for battery storage and that, from the analysis made, the projects that will qualify for the contracting phase nears 1,500 MWh.

„You can divide by two, if you want to see approximately the installed power. So, we will have, in a year, a year and a half, another 750-800 MW in batteries in Romania, which is really the biggest need of the system,” said Burduja.

AGERPRES