Romania needs an integrated approach at national level to act effectively in the different and interconnected topics related to providing heating for the people, insisted Cristina Cremenescu, Senior Energy Consultant, at EnergynomicsTalks, on June 18. The dialogue was based on the 5 most important things to know about district heating, as they resulted from the vote given by the readers of energynomics.ro, in the opinion poll proposed on May 4. The idea on the first position was that ” for the next EU financing period, an Operational Program is needed to finance investments in efficient district heating systems”.

By the end of this year, Romania will present the cogeneration potential at national level, Cristina Cremenescu reminded us. “However, we currently have no information about heat consumption at the industrial level and we cannot correctly measure the cogeneration potential if we look only at the segment of heating for the population,” she said. Beyond a unitary perspective at national level, other very important elements are missing, including the new form of the Thermal Law, which has been in Parliament for years, and details about the future form of the new support scheme for cogeneration. “The study necessary to define the new support scheme has been completed and has been sent to the European Commission, but we know nothing more. We don’t know what this scheme will contain, who it is designed for, what is the potential in the industry area… ”

As part of the information and collaborative journalism campaign “5ToKnow about district heating”, Energynomics summarized readers’ responses to an online open survey. Here is the ranking resulting from the online vote:

1. For the next EU financing period, an Operational Program is needed to finance investments in efficient district heating systems

2. DHSs are the most efficient solution for heating areas with high-density housing

3. Individual heating systems contribute to increasing the pollution

4. District heating systems (DHS) provide a services that the authorities have a legal obligation to make available to the public

5. The vast majority of district heating operators are under the EU-ETS requirements to pay for CO2 emissions

EnergynomicsTalks is an editorial product launched by the Energynomics communication platform aiming at encouraging a constant professional dialogue in the Romanian energy community during the state of emergency and amid the restrictions imposed by social distancing approach.