There is a lot of interest in renewables from investment funds, but they cannot find large-scale projects in Romania, Nicolas Pleșea, Senior Investment Manager Agista, at the Energy Strategy Summit 2022, an event organized by Energynomics.
“There is a lot of interest in renewables, and we are in contact with a lot of impact funds in many parts of the world that have a lot of interest in Romania. The major problem is that they don’t find large, significant projects. The money is there, we also have money to invest in this area, we have to find those projects that are feasible from all points of view,” he said.
Agista is an investment fund that should be perceived as a provider of capital and makes impactful and obviously profitable investments.
“Mankind produces 150 Gt of CO2 every year, which means that if we continue in this way, we will reach a warming level of more than 4 degrees Celsius above 1990 levels, in 2050. There are scenarios about what would happen at 3 degrees C and there are assets – ports, highways, cities, manufacturing facilities that will disappear. The energy sector accounts for 40% of this problem, which means that if we solve the fossil fuel problem, we solve the climate problem. It seems that solving the climate problem becomes very much a financial problem. All international organizations are talking about redirecting financial flows into the area of sustainable investment. Globally, there is talk of 23 trillion dollars of investment in energy infrastructure, 770 billion euros in the European Union, and in Romania we are probably talking about 10-15 billion euros over the next 10 years. If we look at the NECP, it says that we will have to invest somewhere in the region of 10 billion euros to produce 7-10 GW of renewable energy. But if you talk to the contractors, they will order the problems in the following way: we have a bureaucratic problem, legislation, in terms of the legal status of land, we have the bureaucracy around ATRs – the problem with energy infrastructure, and financing problems. Money is not everywhere, and in order to have access to funding you have to come up with a good plan, a good idea and have the power to execute. If you have all these things I’m sure the money will come,” he added.
Energy Strategy Summit 2022 was organized by Energynomics with the support of its partners: ABB, BCR, CE Oltenia, Chimcomplex, Eaton, Electrica Furnizare, Electroalfa, EnergoBit, Enevo Group, European Energy, Eximbank, EY, Franklin Templeton, Horváth, ING, Hidroelectrica, Marsh, MET Energy România, Nuclearelectrica, BCR Pensii, Photomate, Powertis, Renomia Gallagher, Schneider Electric, Transelectrica, Volt, wpd.
