Romania must invest in education to be able to benefit from all the financing available to the energy transition and to capture the interest of investors, said Radu Dudău, co-founder and director of the Energy Policy Group, at the 9th edition of the Energy Strategy Summit, an event organized by Energynomics.

“We have to prioritize much more than we do now. There is also a need to prioritize the human resource that Romania has, but it must value it more, and invest in education. Skilled people are needed in all fields and at all skill levels. It is enough to follow the trends that are already launched, to be careful to invest in the competence of the human resource, and we will then be able to benefit from the significant financial means and the interest of investors”, said Dudău.

Romania, like the entire EU, is in a historical moment in which the transition is being made to a completely different economy compared to the one so far, and the Romanian authorities seem to articulate a more positive language and express confidence that Romania will succeed to use this opportunity.

However, the highly ambitious decarbonisation plans are based on a number of still uncertain technologies, such as green hydrogen or carbon capture.

“Green hydrogen will certainly take place in the energy of the future but probably not as vast as we imagine today. We will need gigantic amounts of renewable energy to produce this hydrogen, large investments in water electrolysis and transport infrastructure. We need carbon capture and storage to decarbonize energy-intensive industries, but this is also a critical technology for maintaining competitiveness in Europe, but still uncertain,” added Dudău.

In order to be ready for this historic moment, Romania must expand the high-voltage networks and use the enormous potential of the energy efficiency sector, but also implement the tools necessary to stimulate green energies such as the contract for difference and PPAs.

Energy Strategy Summit 2023 was organised by Energynomics with the support of ABB, ASTRASUN Solar, BCR, CEZ Romania, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, Electro Service RB, Elektra Renewable Support, EnergoBit, Enevo Group, E.ON, Finder, Huawei, MET România Energy, OMV Petrom, OX2 România, Phoenix Contact, Photomate, ProCredit Bank, REI Grup, Renomia Gallagher, Romgaz, Schneider Electric, Signify, Transelectrica, Taw Energy, Volt, WIKA, Wiren, Alexandrion Group, Aqua Carpatica, Klarmedia and Mobexpert.