The Ministry of Energy is in the process of updating the National Integrated Plan in the field of Energy and Climate Change (PNIESC), so that, in the spring of next year, we will have this plan up to date, which involved a very “difficult coordination and collar pulling of the other institutions involved”, said, on Thursday, the minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, according to Agerpres.

“Romania is among the countries with the most ambitious decarbonization plan, it is among the countries with the most spectacular increase in the share of renewable energy in the energy mix, it is among the countries that gives the world one of the best specialists in the energy sector (…) We are in the process of updating the National Integrated Plan in the field of Energy and Climate Change (PNIESC) and, sometime in the spring of next year, we will have this plan up to date, which involved an extremely difficult coordination effort and pulling the collar of the other institutions involved – ministries, agencies – to assume targets, to come up with data, because in Romania, in general, we don’t measure anything – and then we don’t know very well where we are and where we want to go – and to come up with these commitments. We are on the assumed calendar to have the new PNIESC next spring,” said Burduja.

At the same time, he emphasized that Romania is the first country to exploit gas in the Black Sea with Black Sea Oil and Gas, followed by Neptun Deep.

In his opinion, Romania will be the first country to have wind power plants in the Black Sea, which is why the Offshore Wind Law was accelerated.

“That’s why we accelerated the law for offshore wind to the maximum, it is under interministerial approval, we have a very lively dialogue with the Ministry of the Environment and some elements of this draft law to be adopted by the Government and, later, sent to the Parliament, with a deadline for adoption this fall, anyway, until the end of the parliamentary session. We want the Government to establish, by Government decision, the main elements by the summer of 2025, by June 2025,” the minister pointed out.

He referred to the procedural aspects regarding the concession of perimeters, the amount of royalties and the state aid scheme through which these offshore wind investments will be supported, possibly with a contract-for-difference mechanism.

At the same time, Burduja stated that, at the level of the Ministry of Energy, it is desired to carry out a global study on the areas that can be developed, to take into account all environmental aspects and to define the areas where these capacities can be built.

“After we have this study, which will probably last a year, an investor will know exactly where he can go, and the environmental approval part will be much easier, and therefore we will be able to accelerate so that, from 2030 onwards, we see the first wind power plants in the Black Sea,” added the minister.