The plan to overhaul Romania’s energy sector provides for the gradual replacement of the current production capacities with new, modern energy capacities based on renewables, photovoltaic parks, as well as on gas turbines, so we won’t halt any production capacity before we put something else in place, Secretary of State with the Energy Ministry George Niculescu told a specialist conference on Tuesday, according to Agerpres.

„All the measures that we are considering at the Energy Ministry are precisely aimed at strengthening the national energy system; the highly important goal worth mentioning is to provide to household or non-household consumers the necessary amount of energy at an affordable price, so that the Romanian economy remains competitive on the regional markets. (…) After a period of approximately eight to ten years, green energy is reinstated as the star of national energy investments and the Energy Ministry supports these investments through funds from both the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Modernization Fund. Indeed, we launched a call for projects in May last year with 457 million euros to finance approximately 950 megawatts in photovoltaic and wind capacities. I think that the first files were assessed last week and the list was published on the Ministry’s website. We are launching financing from the Modernization Fund and support schemes for investments by trading companies, for self-consumption, for trading companies that want to produce electricity to inject into the grid, as well as for public institutions,” said Niculescu.

The energy official also mentioned that National Power Grid Company Transelectrica signed 475 million euro worth of contracts with the Energy Ministry, and the schemes financed from the Modernization Fund, such as the one for the public institutions’ own consumption, have a budget of 550 million euros. „The budget for the production of energy from renewable sources for trading companies is also 500 million euros. All these are certain amounts that will go into projects,” George Niculescu said.

He pointed out that the competent authorities are highly concerned about how Romania will welcome the next winter.

„We see that there were absolutely no problems, and this was not only due to the mild winter we had, but also to the efforts all of us at the Energy Ministry, including Minister Popescu, have put in to make sure that we smoothly get over this complicated period. (…) Through the projects we carry out and through the projects we run, including those related to our interconnection, we aim to diversify the supply sources and our natural gas supply routes. Let me remind you that two weeks ago, the National Company Romgaz signed an agreement with the Baku-based SOCAR for the purchase of natural gas for the coming cold season. We are concerned about how we will meet the next winter, and another project I’d like to mention is the one related to the agreement signed on December 17, 2022 in Bucharest, at the Cotroceni Palace, a project that will practically help us attain our decarbonization targets through the renewable energy produced in the Caspian Sea area, which will be transmitted across Georgia’s territory and via a subsea cable under the Black Sea,” the Secretary of State said.

Representatives of the energy sector’s authorities and companies participate between February 21 and 23 in the event „ZF Power Summit 2023: Romania, the Region, the Union: Investment Directions and Regional Strategic Projects that Will Redefine the European Energy Sector”.

Agerpres