The aim of the Green Deal is to increase Romania’s level of competitiveness, but this goal cannot be achieved without investment and adaptation to the realities of today’s world, said George Agafiței, Director of Institutional Affairs and Regulation at PPC Romania.
“The energy transition and the Green Deal are not about making Romania green and full of popcorn, but about creating a long-term competitive economy, adapted to the realities to come”, said Agafiței, at the conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025”.
In a tense electoral context, Romania’s national interest should be prioritised, beyond campaign strategies, the PPC Romania official emphasised. He emphasised the need for a clear vision on investment and energy market development, at a time when energy has become an easily exploitable subject of political debate. “Any politician who wants electoral capital can criticise the energy sector and will have public support, as utility companies are easy targets”. However, in Agafiței’s view, Romania needs to adopt a more skilful approach, given the major geopolitical shifts and conflicts between major powers. Instead of mere populist speeches, national and regional interests should be analysed in depth to ensure stability and progress in the energy sector. “If we want to have a competitive economy, we need to have a serious and coherent dialogue with people in the market,” Agafiței added.
The country’s energy security is ensured by the energy production sector and its accessibility for all consumers. However, the transition to a new stage of development cannot be made if Romania continues to burn coal.
“We all agree that energy security is paramount, but energy security is first and foremost about generation capacity. In the last two to three years, the only notable generation capacities that have entered the Romanian grids are renewable energy. We can support fossil-fuelled capacity, which is really useful at the moment. But you can’t make long-term plans on coal-fired capacity; it’s unrealistic to think about that in 2025,” he said.
On the other hand, although a lot of renewable energy generation capacity has been installed recently, with lower production costs, this cheap energy still does not reach the final consumer due to insufficient development of energy distribution and transmission networks. An appropriate legislative framework is needed to develop energy transport infrastructure.
“The problem that is being created at the moment is that this energy, although it has a very low production cost, does not reach the final consumer at this cost and this is where the problem of the networks comes in. However much capacity we have and however much energy we want to put on the market, we won’t be able to transport it if we don’t have [solid] grids. Investments in grids are a public policy of the Romanian state, and the amount of investment in grids is determined by the national regulator. As much as we want to invest more, the regulator dictates the investment framework. Without an investment framework that incentivises in line with the energy strategy, we won’t be able to transport energy to the end customer [in the best conditions],” Agafiței added.
The conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Alive Capital, Elektra Renewable Support, Enevo Group, Hidroelectrica, Nano Energies. Software Media WEBUS 4 ENERGY, Think Blu Solution.