Any developed economy in the world is an urbanised economy, and if there are engines of growth in an economy, they are the cities, Minister of Energy Sebastian Burduja on Tuesday told the „Smart City Industry Awards” (SCIA) 2025 event.

„The World Bank’s theory, fully validated in practice, is that there is no economic development without urban development. Any developed economy in the world is an urbanised economy, and if there are engines of growth in an economy, they are the cities. And if there are dynamic cities, they must be smart cities,” Burduja showed.

He pointed out that, from an energy perspective, he has strived to support local authorities. „A project very dear to us is the one for green energy production for public institutions. We obtained free money from the Modernisation Fund, European funds, 700 million euros. We have signed contracts worth over 2.3 billion lei, which amounts to around 325 megawatts. The largest project is in Iasi – nine megawatts – but there are projects that will be completed by the end of the year or within 12 months and which will provide green energy for the self-consumption of public institutions and communities,” the Energy minister added.

According to the source, by the end of the year, a new call for projects will be launched for green energy production for public institutions, which will also include eligibility for storage solutions.

„I believe this is a good practice example. The call was so attractive that, if everything goes well, we will launch a new one by the end of the year, and this time we will also make the storage part eligible, because many beneficiaries told us they have photovoltaic panels but also need batteries, and that is what we shall do,” the minister further said.

Another project mentioned by Burduja is „Urban-Up”, intended for homeowners’ associations to install photovoltaic panels on apartment buildings.

„Another important project is ‘Urban-Up,’ similar to ‘Electric-Up,’ which you probably know. ‘Urban-Up’ is for homeowners’ associations, financed from the Ministry of Energy’s budget – around 100 million lei – and thus we will enable these associations to install photovoltaic panels on buildings together with storage batteries, and effectively support part of their energy costs,” said Sebastian Burduja.

ARSC, in partnership with the Romanian Government, through the General Secretariat of the Government – Department for Sustainable Development, is organising the ninth edition of the SCIA Gala and the conference themed „The City of the Future: Technology, Data, and Efficient Administration” on Tuesday.

AGERPRES