The humankind falls into a new era, the transition to a new type of development where energy is key, with the electricity in the foreground. It is the primary finding and the starting point of the discussions within FOREN 2016, an event organized by CNR-CME attended by over 500 participants and on the list of speakers more than 200 economical and political experts and policy makers from Romania and from countries of central and southeastern Europe were registered.

The 13th edition of FOREN was opened by the President of CNR-CME Iulian Iancu, who said that “the future belongs to electric power, and the solution will be given by a new technological and digital revolution.”

In turn, the Minister of Energy Victor Grigorescu stressed out that for Romania it is important to adopt a trusting approach, allowing new constructions based on the benefits and successes of the national energy system. “Romania is now one of the most important energy systems in the region. The Romanian energy system is strong, solid, and its situation is improving. Even though there are areas of tension or areas that undergo transformations, tensions are only a symptom of a process of revival and efficiency improvement”. The minister supported his trustful message referring to three examples:

• Transgaz’ succes in obtaining European funding for the BRUA project
• the soon to be completed Romania-Bulgaria connection this year
• Hidroelectrica’s exit of insolvency, which leaves  Hidroelectrica as a more streamlined company, and its soon IPO in the local and international capital markets

The Minister has also referred to the completion of the national energy strategy, insisting that “the strength of this strategy will be given by is main ideas and the strong support from all Romanian energy experts to these ideas”.

In addition, answering a question launched by energynomics.ro, the Chairman of the Industry Commission of the Chamber of Deputies Iulian Iancu appreciated that the prerequisites for a broad political support in Parliament of the new national energy strategy seem to be met. “It is need that the strategy this government has outlined to be politically assumed by means of an organic law, so that any future amendment thereof might be adopted only with a 75% majority in Parliament,” Iancu said.

Iuliana Andronache, executive director of Electrica SA expressed her confidence that the Forum will create value and will increase the level of ambition in the national and regional debates, “so that the Forum to be honest a platform for sharing lessons learned and best practices”.

In a speech marked by emotion, Cristian Hera, vice-president of the Romanian Academy, pointed out that the Earth’s reserves to support sustainable development are in an advanced stage of depletion. “The consumption of energy clearly denotes the technical progress and the degree of civilization of a nation,” Cristian Hera said.

During her intervention, Elena Nekhaev, program director in the World Energy Council, referred to the difficulty of anticipating the key developments in energy and gave some examples of major forecasting errors from some of the most globally reputed experts in energy. As a conclusion, Elena Nekhaev launched her key message: “Keep open all energy choices. We need each of them: nuclear, renewables, coal, natural gas, oil. All are required to meet the growing demand of the population at global level. All the technologies have the potential to be improved in terms of performance and, also, in efficiency.”

Jyri Ylkanen, from the Directorate for Energy at the European Commission, offered a broad perspective on the central topic at this edition of FOREN: Secure and sustainable energy at regional level. Jyri Ylkanen detailed the purposes and objectives of the five pillars of the future European Energy Union:

• security of supply
• energy single market
• energy efficiency
• CO2 emissions reduction
• research and innovation in energy

FOREN 2016 Regional Energy Forum in Central-Eastern European region, is organized by the Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council, on 12-16 June at Costineşti. The Forum includes 11 main events: Regional Energy Day Two Keynote Addresses, Energy Trilema conference, four round tables, three workshops and an exhibition for the companies from home and from abroad to showcase their latest news.