The local energy market will be able to avoid a monopoly situation imposed by the big players in the renewable energy sector if it supports smaller producers who invest in energy generation capacities for self-consumption.
“I strongly believe that in order to stop being dependent on a few big renewable energy players, the big power will come from small producers building plants for self-consumption and to be prosumers. The future energy power of Romania comes from the multitude of producers and not from a few investors who build a few hundred or close to one GW, because – normally – we will end up in the situation where they will dictate the prices”, said Ciprian Bodiu, Head of Sales at Parapet, during the event “Energy efficiency for energy transition” organized in Constanța by Energynomics together with the Romanian Fund for Efficiency Energy – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy.
Although energy equipment for generation facilities can now be purchased at lower prices than in previous years and delivery times are shorter, this situation can change quickly.
If last year photovoltaic panels had a cost of 0.32 cents per Watt, recently the quotation has dropped to 0.14 cents. To withstand the massive flow of imported materials and equipment from China, some companies have ended up selling their products at prices below production costs. Last but not least, the vast majority of electrical and electronic equipment imported from China is connected to servers that are under the control of this state. “It’s cheap to buy from China now, but who knows for how long,” he continued.
The energy market is still affected by the problem of the lack of skilled labor, a shortage of technical competence that has been felt since the beginning of the new wave of investments in renewable energies.
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At the same time, although the legislation related to the profile market has seen an accelerated improvement, the problems faced by the builders are the “grass roots”. “At the national level, there is a lack of people who can handle specific machines, project managers, those who do the design. The demand is so high that we are still behind in terms of specialized technical competence”, said Bodiu.
The conference in Constanța was the third of a series of 5 scheduled by the Energynomics communication platform, the Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy. The project is financed by Norwegian Grants 2014-2021. The next conferences are scheduled in Iași, on October 19 and 20, and in Bucharest, on November 16 and 17.