ROMANIA: Romania does not have enough energy; there are moments at peak consumption when imports exceed 2,500 MW – Burduja
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Romania does not have enough energy, which is why it imports 1,459 megawatts, being peak consumption moments, in the morning or evening, when imports exceed 2,300, even 2,500 megawatts, stated, on Tuesday, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, during a specialized conferences, quoted by Agerpres.
“Everything is energy and energy is everything! It is the heart of economic competitiveness. It is probably the most important conclusion of the Draghi report, the first correct recognition, moreover, at the European level, that we have a huge European competitiveness problem, directly related to the price of energy, which is about three times higher than in the States United, than in China and other markets where we compete. Romania today simply does not have enough energy. If we look at the Transelectrica website and now we see that we have a consumption of 7,181 megawatts of active energy and a production of 5,722 megawatts. So we now import 1,459 megawatts and there are moments at peak consumption in the morning or especially in the evening, when imports exceed 2,300, even 2,500 megawatts”, mentioned Burduja, at the Energy Forum event XII Edition: 2025 of great challenges, organized by DC Media Group.
He pointed out that last year was a particularly good one for the energy sector.
“We were simply lucky. We had a large hydro production, it rained a lot, the wind blew, so we are also in God’s hands in the energy sector. Why did we end up chasing every megawatt this year? Because he did not invest in the energy sector and we must say it bluntly, without blaming the heavy inheritance. I am simply presenting the reality. If we, compared to 1989, have lost half of the production capacity in the strip, without putting much in place, apart from a wave of renewable energy, by 2012 I think, surely this is the explanation of the situation in which we find ourselves today , the main explanation. There is another explanation – and I did not hide the fact that at the table of the Ministers of Energy at the European level, I brought the issue of price differences between Western Europe and Eastern Europe”, added the minister.
According to him, in a single European market, interconnected in theory, we find neighboring states within the European Union that do not have any kind of interconnection, namely Austria and Slovakia.
“We see that we have double the price compared to Austria, for example. Why is this happening? Because for years in a row a completely absurd situation was allowed. In a single European market, interconnected in theory, we find neighboring states within the European Union that do not have any kind of interconnection: Austria and Slovakia. There is no interconnection between two countries in the middle of the European Union, countries that should ensure the transit of cheaper energy, from west to east, as is happening now, but there will be periods and there have been periods when it was cheaper here, in the east – and lost the west of Europe because it could not import the cheaper energy from the east”, Burduja said.
He emphasized that Romania did everything it was asked, that’s why it ended up being dependent on imports at certain time intervals.
According to him, there are technical discussions with representatives of the European Commission, in which a clear analysis of the existing infrastructure is requested, if it is used to its maximum capacity, as well as “a clear assumed plan to accelerate interconnections, with clear targets for each individual state” .
“Romania is a very good European citizen in the energy sector. Why? We did everything that was asked of us. Have we entered the decarbonization trajectory? I entered. Have we closed coal groups in the past? I closed them.
That is why today we have come to be dependent on imports at certain time intervals – and we have an interconnection capacity of 3,500 megawatts. We have 10 lines, there were nine until recently, now we also have Reşita-Pancevo, there are at least two or three more lines with the Republic of Moldova, two more with Ukraine, so we won’t get somewhere to 16 lines in the next two or three years. Or, if we have a production peak of 6,000 – 6,500, maybe 7,000 if we work hard and help our weather, it means that we can, theoretically, export about half of this capacity. This is not the case with other European states, and then we asked for justice. We asked for something common sense, moral, to have not only obligations, but also the same rights on the integrated energy market”, added the minister.
