Gabriel Gheorghe, Director of the Strategy and Planning Division at Distribuție Energie Electrică Romania (DEER), said that companies are facing difficulties in meeting the energy transition obligations imposed by Brussels. These include difficulties in terms of funding and the short time needed to achieve these goals, as well as a lack of qualified staff to carry out these tasks.
“The major challenges are money and time. Investments for the energy transition are happening very fast, but there is also a lack of specialized staff. Companies in Romania will have to invest at the same time, so the same few constructors will have to be allocated to the works at the same time,” Gheorghe said at the Energy Strategy Summit 2024, organized by Energynomics.
Even if funding and time issues are resolved, human resources are essential, not only for DEER, but also for service providers and constructors. Operational reliability is also a crucial issue, requiring a rigorous network modernization program to phase these expenditures.
“Distributors have to adapt, and that comes with the necessary investments, but there are also legislative constraints,” Gheorghe added.
On the energy transition, Gheorghe emphasized the need to identify clean sources, noting that these will involve significant costs. At EU level 67 billion euros are needed by 2060, with a peak by 2030, with the pressure decreasing thereafter. Romania needs 1.2 billion euros a year, totaling 30 billion euros by 2060, of which 15 billion euros must be invested by 2030.
DEER also has 13 projects with a total value of 280 million euro to be financed by the Modernization Fund. In total, DEER has some 30 projects worth 1.6 billion euro in the pipeline, ranging from smart metering (1.2 million meters) to increasing distribution capacity and digitization.
Energy Strategy Summit 2024 was organized by Energynomics, with support from our partners: ABB, ADC, Alive Capital, BayWa r.e, BCR, Best Tools Company, CRC Energy, Distribuție Energie Electrica Romania, DRI, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Energo Power, Enevo Group, Evryo, Exim Banca Românească, Hidroelectrica, Horvath, Huawei, Jinko Solar, Keno Energy, MET România Energy, Nofar Energy, Nuclearelectrica, OX2, Photomate, PNE, Polytrade, Renomia Gallagher, Romgaz, Schneider Electric, SolaX Power, TDP Partners, ThinkBlu Solution, Transelectrica, Vertis, WALDEVAR Energy. With the support of Alexandrion Group, Mobexpert.
Strategic partners: ACUE, AFEER, AIIR, AHK România, ARPEE, CNR-CME, CRE, EFdeN, EPG, HENRO, FPPG, PATRES, ROMATOM, RPIA, RWEA, SAMER.
Parteneri media: CISOLAR, The Voice of Renewables