Alina Oprea • 19 April, 2023 at 3:00 PM
The Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Tanczos Barna, expects at least 10,000 photovoltaic systems to be installed every month, and in one year the program of 150,000 approved projects will be completed. There is a great demand, and the ministry's budget allows the financing of about 2% of the total number of eligible clients. There are 3 million registered houses in Romania.
"We are now addressing a beach of 150,000 houses, which is not a very large percentage, but we hope to receive support including from the Ministry of European Funds, money with which to complete this financing. Taking the example of last year's program, there already, after signing the contracts, around 18,000 such systems out of the total of 40,000 have been installed. The pace can be increased because more companies are coming, and more installers, so the interest is very high for these companies as well. I think 10,000 systems can be installed monthly without any problem. In a year, a program of 120,000-150,000 houses can be completed without a special effort on the part of the industry, on the part of the installation companies, and on the part of those who have to install those meters", explained the Minister of the Environment, at TVR INFO.
Asked if the process could suffer because of the smart meter crisis, Tanczos Barna pointed out that "it is a challenge", but he claims that electricity suppliers and distributors have had enough time to work out these aspects.
"It is a challenge (the problem of smart meters, ed.). It happened that the wrong meters were ordered, it's a global problem, that's why we announce a year in advance what our plan is. Last year, in December, we announced that our target is 150,000 households to be financed in 2023. All electricity suppliers and all distribution network owners know this and can prepare. Months in advance they can do acquisition procedures, and they can prepare because these things will definitely happen. (...) I appealed several times to those who manage these areas to know that these programs are coming, that we have these financings, but certainly, monthly, there will be at least 10,000 requests that require these smart meters". said Tanczos Barna.
The Minister of the Environment also explained that it is expected that the program carried out by the AFM will have a new stage in the autumn, including the approval of a new program financed separately, from European funds.
"I expect to receive European funds for the program run by AFM, it is an additional source, and we expect a new program run by the Ministry of European Funds on the same topic to be approved. Work continues on identifying resources to increase the number of financed households", Tanczos Barna also pointed out.