Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and US Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm had a meeting on Tuesday at the Victoria Palace where they discussed the meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC), hosted in these days of Romania and about the strategic importance of energy security in the context of the war in Ukraine and the use of energy as a weapon of pressure.
Prime Minister Ciolacu stated that Romania aims to raise the economic and energy cooperation within the Strategic Partnership with the United States of America to the level of excellence achieved in the field of security. At the same time, he showed that the Romanian state has the potential to become an important regional hub in the field of energy, and American investments in hydrocarbon deposits in our country, but also in clean energy projects, will contribute to achieving this goal.
“Romania is and will continue to be a firm, consistent and reliable partner of the US in the region, dedicated to efforts to strengthen energy security in Europe”, stated Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
The Romanian Prime Minister emphasized the cooperation with the USA in the project of the construction of the two new units of the Cernavodă Power Plant and the investment in the Small Modular Reactors (SMR) at Doicești, which will have the effect of doubling the electricity production of the nuclear energy facilities. In this context, Marcel Ciolacu showed that the partnership between Nuclearelectrica and the American companies NuScale and Fluor, through which the former coal-fired power plant from Doicești is transformed into a modern nuclear-electric power plant, places us in the field of pioneering in this field.
The Head of the Romanian Executive also mentioned our country’s objective to increase the interconnection capacity with the Republic of Moldova to ensure this state’s ability to supply from safe sources and welcomed the similar projects developed by the USA in the neighboring country.
The meeting between Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm, was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Marian Neacșu, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, State Councilor Nicolae Comănescu, the General Director of S.N Nuclearelectrica Cosmin Ghiță and the Ambassador of the United States of America in Romania, E.S. Kathleen Kavalec.
The fifth meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC) takes place in Bucharest on July 23-24, 2024 and is organised by the US Department of Energy, Romanian Ministry of Energy, and the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. Partner of the Romanian Ministry of Energy is the Association of Electric Energy Producers – HENRO, which has the support of Hidroelectrica, Nuclearelectrica, Romgaz, ELCEN, Transgaz, Electrica Furnizare, Transelectrica.