The decarbonization programs that the Oltenia Energy Complex is currently carrying out hope to be approved by the European Commission this year, Dan Dragan, secretary of state at the Ministry of Energy, said in a specialized debate on Wednesday.
“We know very well that Gorj County is the region with the highest CO2 emissions in Romania and, at the same time, given the need to reach the targets set by the National Energy and Climate Change Plan, the Energy Strategy and the potential targets to be negotiated through the Fit for 55 Package, we are currently evaluating, together with the European Commission, the decarbonization plan of the Oltenia Energy Complex, which aims to install additional capacities of approximately 725 MW in photovoltaic technologies and, at the same time, additional capacities using gas as a transition fuel, with a combined cycle production capacity of approximately 1.2 GW. These installed gas capacities will be needed to help all of this development, transition and ensure a balance of the National Energy System, but also not to endanger the development of renewable, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal and other sources on which Romania wants to develop (…) We hope that all these decarbonization programs that the Oltenia Energy Complex is carrying out will be approved this year,” said Dragan.
According to the official, for the jobs that will be lost in the next period at the Oltenia Energy Complex, as a result of the transformation and decarbonization of the National Energy System, significant financial resources will be made available.
“We need to think about how to distinguish the problem of decarbonization from social problems (…) This restructuring plan of the Oltenia Energy Complex must be successful, and in 2026 we can say that the new capacities installed in this region will contribute significantly to Romania’s climate targets. We know that we have over 7,000 employees today at the Oltenia Energy Complex and another 3,600 employees who are closely linked through the companies that interact with the Complex. For all of these jobs lost in the next period due to the course, transformation and decarbonization of the National Energy System will be provided significant financial resources, which must be used wisely through good collaboration between central and local authorities. For example, via the Modernization Fund, funds will be allocated, including for the transformation of production using fuels fossil fuels to a production that uses renewable resources, including hydrogen,” said Dan Dragan.
He noted that the authorities plan to develop a new natural gas distribution network in the region, which could lead to the creation of new jobs in the coming years.
“At the same time, in this region we are thinking of developing a natural gas distribution system, a new network to be prepared for the insertion of hydrogen and carbon-free gas. This new network that we want to develop in the region can attract, in the next four – five years, a significant number of people who will thus find a new job,” added the state secretary of the Ministry of Energy.
In mid-April this year, the Government adopted an Emergency Ordinance on granting state aid of 664.1 million lei to the Oltenia Energy Complex, for the acquisition of emission certificates for last year. The payment of CO2 certificates is part of the Restructuring Plan and their non-payment leads to the compromise of the plan and the reform in electricity production as well as the entire decarbonization process and the transition to climate neutrality.
At the same time, the senators adopted, on May 10, 2021, the project initiated by the Government which has as object of regulation the modification of GEO no. 21/2021 for the approval of granting a state restructuring aid to the Company “Complexul Energetic Oltenia” – SA.
In addition, at the end of July, the Government adopted the decisions allocating 6.82 million lei for the payment of the monthly supplementary income for the dismissed persons from Societatea Complexul Energetic Oltenia (CEO), respectively 16.13 million lei for the dismissed persons from the Hunedoara Energy Complex Company (CEH), informs the Ministry of Energy.
The amounts are allocated from the unemployment insurance budget for 2021.
With an available capacity of 3,570 MW, the Oltenia Energy Complex is one of the largest energy producers in Romania and contributes to ensuring national energy security, mainly in extreme moments of prolonged drought or in winter periods with low temperatures, periods in which the contribution of coal-fired power plants to the production structure increased to almost 35%.
Greenpeace Romania, in collaboration with the Energy Policy Group (EPG), organized on Wednesday the online debate on “Energy transition – local and national challenges”.