The new government plans to change the target for renewables and accelerate the coal exiting process, told energynomics.ro Alin Tanase, campaign coordinator, Greenpeace, following today’s meeting at the Ministry of Economy and Energy (MEEMA) headquarters, which took place at the initiative of Greenpeace and Bankwatch.
“We talked largely about PNIESC (n.r. Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate Change). Work is now underway on a new draft, which will be ready by the end of January – early February. The new draft will take into account part of the European Commission’s recommendations. The renewable target for 2030 will be higher, probably somewhere around 30%, but a value has not been specified. And coal energy will drop in the mix – although no value has been specified. And the Energy Strategy will be modified, but PNIESC is a priority,” stated Tanase for energynomics.ro.
“We have called for the total elimination of coal by 2030 – I do not think that will happen, but we wait for the new plan,” said Tanase.
In a statement from the ministry, Niculae Havrileț, Secretary of State at MEEMA, said that the government “will follow the assumed targets for replacing coal-fired power generation capacities with renewable sources”. Havrileț could not be contacted by energynomics.ro.
At the initiative of Greenpeace and Bankwatch, at the headquarters of the Department of Energy a meeting was held with representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment, on Tuesday morning (December 7, 2020).
The objectives of the meeting were to facilitate the transition from a coal-based energy sector to one based on clean energy, ensuring compliance with EU commitments under the Paris Agreement, and last but not least, the challenges encountered in the Jiu Valley and Oltenia were discussed, regions directly affected by the decarbonisation process.
“There is a desire and good faith from this government team to engage in constant dialogue with civil society when we point to such important elements as clean energy. We are aware of its importance in the energy and economic development of the country so we assume the respect of the directions drawn up by the European Commission and those resulting from the Paris Agreement.
There is a decision of the ministry to comply with all that means environmental and decarbonisation obligations and we will strive to achieve the assumed targets for replacing coal-fired power generation capacities with renewable sources. Finding solutions to create economic alternatives in the regions affected by the transition to clean energy is also a priority.
The Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate Change and the Energy Strategy will be harmonized and will aim at decarbonisation. For the security of the National Energy System, it is still important to keep the energy capacities on coal in order to prevent critical situations, until a comfortable level of the interconnection capacities is reached,” stated Niculae Havrileț.
