Serious investors are hindered by those who do not play fairly in the renewable energy market, and speculating with land has become a phenomenon in Romania, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, said on Thursday at a specialized event.
“I very much support the idea of market optimization, of cleanliness, in the renewables market. There are serious investors here. They are inconvenienced by those who do not play the fair way. Transelectrica is inconvenienced by those who do not play the fair way. It has become a phenomenon in Romania – and we have to admit it: speculating with land. We have no interest, we have no knowledge, we have no idea what a solar park or a wind farm means, but we have some pennies, from somewhere, and we make an acquisition, after which we want to multiply them quickly, because we are creative. Well, this kind of phenomenon meant the delay of serious investors, because they did not obtain ATRs (Technical Approval of Connection, n.r.), Transelectrica having the debt to analyze all requests. It also meant costs for serious investors, because they found themselves in a situation where they were asked for line reinforcements and their project, which they really intended to do, became unprofitable or much more difficult to be profitable,” said Sebastian Burduja, at the launch of the second issue of the Code of Good Practices for Renewable Energy, a project initiated by RPIA in collaboration with RWEA, according to Agerpres.
He explained that, when there is an additional cost of 10 million euros, “the loading of the system by these speculators must be discouraged or eliminated”.
“And how can we do that? And I think it is a proposal that you have put on the table, on the public agenda, namely to charge a guarantee. And I am actively working with Mr. Lorand Antal (chairman of the Energy Commission, n.r. ), which I appreciate very much, and let’s come up with a legislative change in this regard with the parliamentary committees and together manage to clean this important market,” added the minister.
On the other hand, he specified that “there is still money in the market, there is still money from the Modernization Fund”.
“We are discussing there 1.5 billion euros, which will be for self-consumption, but also for production. The first call that will be launched in the coming weeks will have the administrative-territorial units schools, kindergartens and others as target beneficiaries. And I think it is a market for you too. There will be another call, similar to Investment 1 of the PNRR that we will launch as soon as we complete the evaluations and contracting on Investment 1, also half a billion, so a substantial amount – and that’s why I ask you to participate , be our partners, in good faith, as you are, because I am addressing a select group of people here, if you want to self-selected into these serious clubs of entrepreneurs who want to do something for this country. I ask nothing more than we do these things together – and that’s the only way we, as a country, will be able to achieve our goals,” said Sebastian Burduja.