We are witnessing a noticeable deterioration in electricity consumption in Romania, but electrification and data management, artificial intelligence will lead to an increase in this consumption in the next five years, said Corneliu Bodea, president of the Romanian Energy Centre (CRE), at a specialised event on Tuesday.

“What is happening with consumption in Romania? Because if we were to be, once again, pragmatic and look at what is actually happening, we are witnessing a deterioration in consumption in Romania. I would not say that it is catastrophic, but it is sensitive. Here, only in the first three months of the year, from some data that I checked yesterday, the first two months, that we are already in the third month, electricity consumption compared to the same period of the previous year seems to have decreased by 1.8%. But, if we were to look at a longer period of time, let’s say, let’s take a reference year, 2018, the decrease in electricity consumption in Romania seems to have exceeded 10%, compared to 2024. And of course then we ask ourselves the question, are we investing in capacities? Why are we investing in capacities? Where do we ensure these needs, where does this need come from? Of course, we can also take into account the fact that in recent years we have been importing, we are net importers. So, here is the first area where we can take, in replacing imports with domestic production,” said Bodea, who is also the general director of ADREM, as quoted by Agerpres.

He says however that he is optimistic regarding energy consumption and encouraged investors to continue investing in Romania, as electrification will lead to an increase in consumption in the next 5 years.

“I am very optimistic about the evolution of electricity consumption and I will give you some arguments – and this should constitute an incentive, an encouragement for investors to continue investing. First of all, we refer to the phenomenon of electrification. Both the Clean Industrial Deal and the Draghi report, which we are increasingly referring to and which seem to have become the new cornerstone documents of the member states of the European Union, place electrification as one of the main methods to advance and reach an area of ​​competitiveness in the European Union. So, electrification, which means both the transformation in the transport area, but also especially, I think, which means moving from thermal energy which today is based on other forms of energy – gas, or other forms – oil and let’s not forget wood mass, biomass, which is so widely used in Romania, the move from these forms of energy to electricity means electrification and will bring a significant increase in electricity consumption, in my opinion, in the next 5 years,” Bodea argued.

In his opinion, the technological development of humanity constitutes another source of increasing energy consumption.

“We don’t only have electrification as a source of consumption growth, there is also what today seems to be the main technological development of humanity, namely data management, data centers, artificial intelligence. It is already known that this entire area of ​​data manipulation, which will become essential for the development of artificial intelligence systems, consumes an enormous amount of electricity and, therefore, I believe that it will be one of the elements that will lead to increased consumption in the coming period, all the more so in Romania, where we benefit from a situation, let’s recognize, completely and completely special and celebrate on this occasion the good things that are happening in our country. You know very well, the internet speed, the fiber optic infrastructure are extremely developed and modern in Romania, but wireless is also very well developed and at extremely competitive costs. Therefore, I believe that we have reasons to respond to investors who are today preparing to continue or start their investments in renewable energy in Romania”, he pointed out.

The President of CRE conveyed that he would like to see a coherent policy pursued by the Government in this area and that at least at the level of the message, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu would be involved.

“Yes, there is a positive context, yes, there is consumption that will take over this production. Of course, we would like both the Romanian Parliament, through the legislative area, and the Government – or especially the Government – to lead a coherent policy in the sense of electrification, of this direction of electrification in Romania. At least at the message level, I would like to see the Prime Minister of Romania talk about electrification, to say how important electrification is. And the second aspect, also pragmatic, refers to the transport and distribution infrastructure, another element that can play the role of a barrier to the development of renewable energy systems or a facilitator of the development of these systems. We know very well – and I will give you an example – how important it is to put, this phrase was used at the slogan level in the past, today we do it practically, to put the consumer at the center of energy systems, because traditionally this industry came from the area where the producer was located. Here, and it is not good news, especially for investors in renewable solutions, that producers are at the center of this system, this ecosystem, but rather the consumer”, mentioned Corneliu Bodea.

He gave the example of Denmark, which reduced its peak consumption by 12% by billing energy at a different price for this time interval.

“Denmark managed to move 12% of peak consumption to other consumption areas, other time zones, only by ensuring the ability to bill energy at a different price during that time interval. 12%, all energy system experts know that it is enormous, can solve a country’s problem at certain times. This is possible exclusively by increasing investments in transport infrastructure, but especially in distribution infrastructure and, especially, increasing investments in the area of ​​grid intelligence. We will have to learn to use energy and networks in a way that is aligned with the optimal moments of production. Consumption will have to happen at those moments when, and I think this is also the elegant way to solve the famous energy trilemma, launched by the World Energy Council, namely – affordability (n.r.), also security (n.r.) and green energy, because this should be the basis of intelligent consumption models: to consume as much green energy as possible, at the best prices and to do it in a way, in a safe climate. Renewable energy is not expensive, renewable energy becomes expensive because of the way we learn to use it today, because of the way our energy systems today are prepared to function”, concluded the head of ADREM.