Romania has many resources of critical materials and can play an important role in the Green Deal Industrial Plan, claims the president of the Smart Energy Association (AEI), Dumitru Chisalita.
„Renewable energy means mineral resources and critical materials, but also production capacities for green energy production equipment and installations. About 80% of the critical materials for renewable energy come from China, which is the country that produces 71% of the world’s panels, 28% of the world’s wind turbines, 63% of the world’s batteries, 71% of the electric cars, 41% of the electrolyzers so necessary for the development of the hydrogen industry,” the AEI chairman claims in an analysis published on Wednesday.
In his opinion, resilience and independence, two words learned after the last two major crises (the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine) are the elements that should define how we will design our future strategies, strategies that should not replace an independence even from Russia with another dependence even from China.
„The Green Deal Industrial Plan is the way to ensure the EU’s industrial leadership in technologies that contribute to the objective of reducing Europe’s energy dependence and to move from being a net importer of energy and energy equipment to using a stronger domestic production base, by accelerating access to finance, improving skills and supporting trade to boost our competitiveness in clean technologies,” added Dumitru Chisalita.
According to him, the Critical Raw Materials Act was presented to simplify the regulatory framework, which is essential to attract investment, reduce the EU’s dependence on highly concentrated imports, as well as to enhance circular economy approaches in the supply of strategic raw materials.
„At the same time, the EU is stepping up its efforts to move to a circular economy, in which global material extraction and use could be reduced by a third through better design, durability, reuse and recycling of products, all of which also reduce their environmental impact. The situation is all the more complicated as the Red Sea conflict in 2024 blocked supply chains, with shipping carriers having no other solution than to abandon the classic Suez Canal route and go around the Cape of Good Hope for destinations in Europe. This detour has made sea transport more expensive (+175%) and air transport (+70%) and has extended delivery times by sea (up to 90 days, from 40-60 days) and air (up to 30-45 days, from 15 days),” the analysis shows.
In this context, Romania can play an important role in the critical materials industry so necessary for Europe, but also in shaping an integrated production chain of renewable equipment in accordance with the Industrial Plan of the European Green Deal.
„Romania’s huge resource potential, represented by magnesium, graphite, bismuth, vanadium, and that is why we must look at how we can address it for the huge need necessary to produce photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, etc.,” Chisalita mentioned.
AGERPRES
