Bogdan Tudorache

The NZEB standard (buildings with almost zero energy consumption), introduced in European legislation since 2010, has become mandatory for all new buildings starting with January 1, 2021, says Radu Dudău, EPG director, Romania Efficient project coordinator.

“According to the legislation adopted in Romania, we understand by NZEB buildings those that have a very high energy performance, so, a very low primary energy consumption. Of the required energy consumption in the building, at least 30% shall be provided from renewable energy sources on site or at a distance of not more than 30 km from the location of the building. The standard has become mandatory for all new buildings as of January 1, 2021 and is also mandatory for all major renovations. The major renovation is also defined by law 372/2005, updated in 2020, on the energy performance of buildings, as that intervention at the level of a building that exceeds in value 25% of the fiscal value of the building,” he added.

“Specifically, we are talking about a whole series of interventions in the case of renovations, which means, for example, advanced thermal insulation systems, windows with much better thermal insulation properties, economical lighting systems, heating, ventilation, to ensure a significant decrease in energy consumption per square meter or year, up to the range of 50 kWh/sqm/year. We start from a current level of about 180-400 KWh/sqm/year, depending on the type of buildings in Romania.”

Romania is still at the stage where these NZEB building projects are in their infancy. The challenge we have at the national level is to implement the long-term renovation strategy (SRTL) by 2030 and by 2050, to renovate practically three quarters of the national building portfolio, which currently has a very low level of energy performance. The investment costs will be enormous. Only until 2030, this renovation strategy approved at the end of last year by the Romanian Government mentions a need of about 13 billion euro in investments.

“It is very important that on the one hand the state, the administration, strengthen their capacity to absorb European funds and for this we must solve a whole series of arrears related to regulation. For example, we do not yet have a national register of buildings with energy performance parameters. We have also not yet clarified the issue of ESCOs, energy services companies, which operate on the basis of energy performance contracts and which are an extremely important vehicle through which private capital can enter this field. Once again: public money, national or European, will not be enough to ensure the necessary long-term renovation rate,” he added.

Dudău added that the Ministry of Development is about to approve a methodology for calculating the energy performance of buildings that clearly explains, for each type of building, how to calculate NZEB standards.

“Moreover, we will have an integrated software system on the market to help designers quickly calculate what they have to do. It is something important, because we are coming out of a certain area of ambiguity, in which on the one hand the law imposed some obligations, on the other hand it was not clear at the level of detail what the developers and builders had to do.”