Romania does not have enough energy, which is why it imports 1,459 megawatts, being moments of peak consumption, in the morning or evening, when imports exceed 2,300, even 2,500 megawatts, said on Tuesday, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, according to Agerpres.
“Everything is energy and energy is everything! It is the heart of economic competitiveness. It is probably the most important conclusion of the Draghi report, the first correct recognition, moreover, at the European level, that we have a huge European competitiveness problem, directly related to the price of energy, which is about three times higher than in the United States, than in China and other markets in which we compete. Romania today simply does not have enough energy. If we look at the Transelectrica website and now we see that we have a consumption of 7,181 megawatts of active energy and a production of 5,722 megawatts. So we are now importing 1,459 megawatts and there are moments at the peak of consumption in the morning or especially in the evening, when imports exceed 2,300, even 2,500 megawatts”, mentioned Burduja.
He emphasized that last year was a particularly good one for the energy sector.
“We were simply lucky. We had a large hydro production, it rained a lot, the wind blew, so we are in God’s hands in the energy sector as well. Why did we end up chasing every megawatt this year? Because there was no investment in the energy sector and we have to say it bluntly, without blaming the heavy legacy. I am simply presenting you with the reality. If we, compared to 1989, lost half of our production capacity in the band, without putting much in place, apart from a wave of renewable energy, by 2012 I think, this is certainly the explanation for the situation we find ourselves in today, the main explanation. There is another explanation – and I did not hide the fact that on the table of the Energy Ministers at the European level, I brought the issue of price differences between Western and Eastern Europe”, added the minister.
According to him, in a single European market, interconnected in theory, we find neighboring states within the European Union that have no interconnection whatsoever, namely Austria and Slovakia.
“We see that we have a price double that of Austria, for example. Why is this happening? Because a completely absurd situation has been allowed for years. In a single European market, interconnected in theory, we find neighboring states within the European Union that have no interconnection whatsoever: Austria and Slovakia. There is no interconnection between two countries in the middle of the European Union, countries that should ensure the transit of cheaper energy, from west to east, as is happening now, but there will be periods and there have been periods when it was cheaper here, in the east – and it lost western Europe because it could not import cheaper energy from the east,” Burduja also said.
He stressed that Romania did everything it was asked to do, which is why it ended up being dependent on imports during certain time intervals.
According to him, there are technical discussions with representatives of the European Commission, which request a clear analysis of the existing infrastructure, whether it is used at maximum capacity, as well as “a clearly assumed plan to accelerate interconnections, with clear targets for each individual state”.
“Romania is a very good European citizen in the energy sector. Why? We did everything we were asked to do. Did we enter the decarbonization path? We entered. Did we close coal-fired power plants in the past? We closed them. That is why today we have become dependent on imports for certain time intervals – and we have an interconnection capacity of 3,500 megawatts. We have 10 lines, there were nine until recently, now we also have Reşița-Pancevo, at least two or three more lines with the Republic of Moldova are coming, two more with Ukraine, so we will not go anywhere near 16 lines in the next two or three years. Or, if we have a production peak of 6,000 – 6,500, maybe 7,000 if we try and help ourselves with the weather, it means that we can, theoretically, export about half of this capacity. This is not the case with other European states and that is when we asked for justice. We asked for something common sense, moral, to have not only obligations, but also the same rights on the integrated energy market,” the minister added.