The energy strategy strenghtens some clear lines of action for the next 15 years, said Minister Victor Grigorescu. “We say it clearly that we move from one way of producing electricity and an energy mix that is dominated by coal, today, to an energy mix in which other sources of electricity production will have larger shares” said Victor Grigorescu, in the online session “Talking with your minister”, an initiative of the Ministry for Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue meant to support the dialogue between officials and citizens.

“We discover that 4000 to 5000 MW will be deprecated. That means that one third of our current fleet of plants will be deprecated in the next 15 years. Hence the opportunity. Some of the MWs that will disappear from the mix will be replaced, probably, by the two new reactors at Cernavoda. But they will not be the only generation capacities to grow. We estimate that there will be upgrades in gas and hydroelectric generation capacities, and also in the renewable sector.” “Probably not with the current technology! I believe that the current generation technology in the wind and photovoltaic area could be defined as Generation 1, and perhaps here we will see mutations,” said Victor Grigorescu.

“We estimate that we will even see an increase in installed capacity in the area of renewables, without support from the state, but simply due to economic competitiveness. The fact that we have to replace a third of the fleet capacity in the next 15 years is, I think, a challenge, but also opportunities will arise from this.”

I think we need to have a more thorough assessment before we rush to talk about support schemes. Let’s talk instead about technological neutrality!

Minister Grigorescu took the opportunity to clarify one of his strong principles which can also be identified in the content of the draft for the new energy strategy recently launched in public debate: “I am not a supporter of support schemes! What do you mean by this? One should think very carefully where one directs the support to, and one has to make sure that all the support is used for better and more efficient services for the consumer. We should analyse these technologies not only in terms of economic efficiency, but also in terms of technological maturity. There is much fuzz about many things, but only few of them are sufficiently mature in terms of technological development. They remain nothing more than an uncertain and costly exercise, even though this is not necesary completely obvious in the bill. There are also indirect costs, and costs distributed in the entire system”, the minister said.

“I think we need to have a more thorough assessment before we rush to talk about support schemes. Let’s talk instead about technological neutrality! I do not think it is useful to anyone to have preconceptions on this. Simply, we must ask ourselves what it is in our own interest, what is our national interest, what is the consumer’s interest, ultimately, what is the interest of the society as a whole – and depending on this answer to make a decision,” said Grigorescu.