The Ministry of Energy has published in decisional transparency a government decision by which an old hydropower project, in the Olt Valley, started before 1989, Cornetu-Avrig, is unblocked. The project will require 300 million lei, and the government decision provides the funds for the necessary expropriations, said Minister Sebastian Burduja.
At the same time, Burduja added that the amount of 14 billion euro in investments through European funds dedicated to the energy system has been exceeded.
“Through the effort of the team from the Ministry of Energy, we exceeded the amount of 14 billion euros in non-reimbursable European financing for the energy sector. It’s unprecedented money for green energy production (over 5.5 billion euro, including the contracts for difference scheme), for electricity transmission and distribution improvements (over 1.5 billion) and natural gas, for increased storage capacity from zero to over 1GW in the next two years, for increasing the production capacity in modern gas and cogeneration plants (over 2GW installed power), for the modernization of Romanian industry, the production of green hydrogen,” said the Minister of Energy.
“Almost every day we sign new financing contracts, and after a year of mandate I declare myself satisfied with the pace of launching investment programs, evaluating projects and signing contracts. You can always do better, and more, and today we signed an agreement with UEFISCDI, the agency with which I also collaborated as minister of research and which will ensure an even faster pace for project evaluations.”
Burduja also said that it is important that new investments are made by April 1, 2025, when the capping and compensation system will end.
“All these billions of euros will make Romania safer in the energy sector, but will also lead to better prices on Romanians’ bills. Beyond developments in the spot markets, bills are capped until 1 April 2025. But it is important that by then we get as much new or upgraded capacity up and running as possible and complete the projects we have started. The investments mean thousands of new jobs and the chance to revive the Romanian industry for the energy sector,” added the Minister of Energy.
