Innovation is the only chance for Romania to develop projects and services, said Marian Dobrilă, CEO of TDP Partners and President of the Pro-Impact Coalition, at the Energy Strategy Summit 2024, organized by Energynomics.
“It is a myth that there are too many projects and too many investors in Romania,” he added, stressing the need for a robust ecosystem to attract large investors.
He added that large investors with budgets of 100 million euros and up need a whole ecosystem when entering a new market. This ecosystem includes available land, network access, reliable providers and integrated services. Romania is still in the process of building such an ecosystem, and the Romanian state plays a crucial role, with the authority to sign contracts worth tens of billions of euros for Green Deal initiatives. Dobrilă described the process of accessing EU funds as “agony and ecstasy”, highlighting the need for greater realism in approaching the issue.
“In energy, we can attract 5-6 billion euros, which at the moment is only potential,” he said.
Referring to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Dobrilă highlighted the lack of concrete data on the absorption of funds and the extreme delays in procurement for large public projects. Also, although there is a wide range of funds available, accessing them requires meticulous planning, covering the whole implementation chain, including final monitoring.
“The NRRP will end in two years and this period is insufficient to access and implement projects. We are happy to have many projects signed through the NRRP, but on the ground we know that these projects are not being implemented because of bureaucratic barriers that arise from the evaluation phase. Nothing is like it was two years ago”, Dobrilă concluded.
Energy Strategy Summit 2024 was organized by Energynomics, with support from our partners: ABB, ADC, Alive Capital, BayWa r.e, BCR, Best Tools Company, CRC Energy, Distribuție Energie Electrica Romania, DRI, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Energo Power, Enevo Group, Evryo, Exim Banca Românească, Hidroelectrica, Horvath, Huawei, Jinko Solar, Keno Energy, MET România Energy, Nofar Energy, Nuclearelectrica, OX2, Photomate, PNE, Polytrade, Renomia Gallagher, Romgaz, Schneider Electric, SolaX Power, TDP Partners, ThinkBlu Solution, Transelectrica, Vertis, WALDEVAR Energy. With the support of Alexandrion Group, Mobexpert.
Strategic partners: ACUE, AFEER, AIIR, AHK România, ARPEE, CNR-CME, CRE, EFdeN, EPG, HENRO, FPPG, PATRES, ROMATOM, RPIA, RWEA, SAMER.
Media partners: CISOLAR, The Voice of Renewables