Romania must make crucial decisions in the energy sector very soon, such as the period when we will completely give up coal for energy production, but also for the completion of infrastructure strengthening projects that have been on paper for years, said on Monday Corina Popescu, general manager of Electrica.

She attended the third edition of the Atlantic – Black Sea Security Forum, organized by the Aspen Romania Institute, in partnership with the Bucharest office of the German Marshall Fund of the US.

“We don’t have time. In the past, we had a few projects that we developed over a long period of time. Time flies. Now, all major projects have to be done very quickly. And the final investment decision has to be made quickly. All things are changing very quickly,” Popescu said.

We must move quickly, otherwise we can lose our position and we will cover the needs of the countries around us that will develop their projects, she says.

“We need a decision. I would start with the most important decision that should be taken: when Romania will assume the total phase-out of coal,” the Electrica representative continued, according to Agerpres.

She recalled that 80% of Romania’s energy production is in the south of the country and only 20% in the north, and the northern part of the country was severely affected by the incident in Europe, in January.

“We have an infrastructure problem, and the system operator has to develop the projects it has on paper for years and years. These are the priorities,” Popescu added.

Another need of the Romanian energy sector is to increase the interconnection capacity on all borders.

“All these are strategic decisions that must be taken and on the basis of which we must build our energy strategy. Otherwise, we risk losing the position we have today,” said the general manager of Electrica.