Romania should use the offshore wind potential of the Black Sea to produce cheap energy, an idea that has not existed so far in the public debate, said Economy, Energy and Business Minister Virgil Popescu on Monday.

“Let’s look at the countries of the North Sea. Offshore parks, why not try to do new studies in the area of the Black Sea platform to have wind farms for electricity production. It is a cheap energy, the technology has evolved and the cost per MW became very low and I think we can include this, in addition to the Black Sea gas and also have the energy of the Black Sea wind. There are topics for discussion,” said the minister.

He said that no studies have been done so far, and the idea has not been publicly debated, although there is potential. “There are no studies done so far and I think it is time to start working on this. I have been attending several European conferences and I have seen what exists in the North Sea and I do not see why the potential of the Black Sea wind could not be used also for the production of electricity in Romania,” said Popescu, according to Agerpres.

According to him, there is European money that can be used for this purpose. “Hidroelectrica, a green company, can do this. It is the most important asset of Hidroelectrica, the fact that it is a green company and I want it to stay that way. So we would have someone to do, it would have potential and it could attract co-financing, – it could associate with other companies of another state and could access connectivity funds between states, so it could start a project,” the official added.