The specialists from Transelectrica and the National Energy Dispatch (DEN), together with the distribution operators, assured me that there is no risk to the balance in the National Energy System (SEN) or the risk of generalized breakdowns over wide areas, said on Monday, in a press conference, Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja.
“I participated in the meeting of the summer command meeting precisely because we are dealing with a special situation from the point of view of meteorological conditions. People with very long experience in the energy sector said that it is atypical, to be delicate, to have day after day of temperatures over 40 degrees and for the month of July, especially this prolonged heat wave. It is completely and utterly special in the National Energy System. We discussed on two levels: on the one hand, from the perspective of consumption and production, to make sure that we do everything possible to cover as much of the consumption as possible from domestic production and, on the other hand, to make sure that the electricity transmission and distribution networks are in good working order. Transformers and others equipment is carefully maintained and the intervention teams are in the field so that any local breakdowns are resolved as soon as possible. I have full confidence in the specialists from Transelectrica and the National Energy Dispatch, in the distribution operators. They all assured me that there is no risk to the balance of the national energy system or the risk of widespread damage over large areas,” said Burduja, according to Agerpres.
The official added that, due to the high temperatures, certain strictly local problems may arise, which can be quickly resolved.
According to the minister, during the meeting of the Interministerial Committee, the topic of energy production and consumption was also discussed.
“As I told you, as a result of the efforts we all made in the last few days, we managed to increase the production by approximately 400 megawatts. I am referring to a group from Işalnița – with almost 250 megawatts, in Paroşeni – almost 100 megawatts, at CET Bucharest Sud – with 50 megawatts. We are still looking for solutions to increase, especially during peak periods in the evening when we register a deficit and prices as such on the markets, as you saw, let’s increase hydro production. Although it’s a very dry year, the driest in the last decade, we have a satisfactory level of over 80% in the reservoirs. You should know that around 70% of the hydro production is on the way and the flows are reduced, and the flow of the Danube is decreasing. In general, historically speaking, we also have a dry month as a result of these factors, we must be cautious in using the capacity of the reservoirs,” said the official.
The Head of Energy pointed out the fact that Transelectrica has postponed certain intervention works on the network in order to have maximum availability of the network from us in the country.
“It is important to have interconnections with neighboring countries. If we did not have these interconnections, the prices would certainly have been even higher, although in the public space it was said that imports lead to an increase in prices. It is untrue. The fact that we have access to imported energy has put pressure on the price, so that was a good thing. Of course there are factors that are not in our control. For example, there are extensive intervention works on the Hungarian side, from Peci to the station on the border could not be postponed. What does this mean that we have a lower import capacity from Hungary, you will see that on this eastern flank we have more prices high. Prices are high in Hungary too, even higher than in Romania, but also here, and in Bulgaria and Poland, somewhat, so in the whole region,” explained Sebastian Burduja.
The minister drew attention to the fact that “we are in this situation where we are still looking for 50 megawatts here, 200 megawatts beyond, it is the consequence of decades in which the state did not invest in the energy sector.”
“There are the two units from Cernavodă started, of course, before the Revolution. We have some megawatts in hydropower plants and a private investment in Brazi, more significant, plus what was done on renewables. But of the 22,000 megawatts we started with in the post stage – in December, we were practically left with half the production. So, the state halved its production capacity. When we came to the ministry and said we must do the Tarnița – Lăpusteşti project, there were not a few who said “No it is possible”. We see, today, how important the Tarnia – Lăpuşteşti project would have been. I said last week that it must be declared of national strategic importance, that we can derogate from any provisions as much as we are allowed under the current constraints and that we can have this balancing capacity of the system. Also, the modernization of Vidraru is happening on the sixth attempt. Units 3 and 4 from Cernavodă, where we are preparing for the entry into the second phase and we really want to have a fair offer in the procurement procedure. public and to be able to move forward with that consortium that, as you know very well, was formed between the Canadians, the Italians and the two companies from the United States, after a lot of effort,” Burduja claimed.
At the same time, the official assured that the big energy projects are moving forward.
“Investments from non-reimbursable financing, of 13.6 billion euros, have been contracted. We have brought this money to Romania, but unfortunately, things will not happen overnight. One important thing is that we rely a lot on storage in batteries. By the end of the year we will have 100 megawatts of storage in batteries, by the end of next year, 500 megawatts of storage in batteries. From the financing that the ministry managed to bring, we are talking about at least 280 million euros at the disposal of the beneficiaries which will install such capacities. But this does not mean that we do not have to make pumped storage micro-power plants, which have a three- to five-times longer operating life than batteries and which, unfortunately, last longer,” also said Sebastian Burduja.