Alina Oprea • 25 September, 2023 at 1:30 PM
Romania is one of the countries that has undertaken a very ambitious decarbonization plan, says the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja. Currently, approximately 14% of the energy produced in the country is based on coal, and in 2026 it will reach approximately 0.3%. According to the minister, the intelligent transition to an economy based on greener energy also means opportunities, and these "we are obliged to capture together: the public environment, the private environment".
"We are one of the countries that has undertaken a very ambitious decarbonization plan. Today we are discussing approximately 14% of the energy produced in Romania based on coal. Of the total energy, 14% is from coal. In 2026, this percentage will be approximately 0.3%, so basically we will be carbon-free from a coal perspective in just a few years. Of course, this also puts some challenges on the table - and I can tell you that I cannot forget or ignore the fact that when I was in Valea Jiului, where there are still 2,032 miners, in 1989 there were 55,000 - so you realize what a transformation. But, one of the 2,032 miners came to me at one point, during the official visit, pulled me by the sleeve, and said: Mr. Minister, come a little bit. Please. Mr. Minister, look at these hands - and I was speechless. He said: Minister, do you see these black hands? I put white bread on the table for three children every day - and you cannot ignore, as a minister, as a person, as a Romanian, the story of these people. I especially wanted to share this experience with you because I really liked what I found in this code of good practice - namely that all the investments you make also generate jobs and we are talking about more than 20,000 jobs that work. This is good news for people like the gentleman I met in Valea Jiului", mentioned Sebastian Burduja, at an event.
The Minister of Energy also said that the money for investments must reach the market as quickly as possible.
"I'll give you some examples: PNRR, we have Investment 1 in renewables, solar wind, 740 applications received, fully evaluated by colleagues from the Ministry of Energy. It is a titanic job - and what we managed to do in these three months of the mandate is to speed up this process and I hope it shows. At least it can be seen that we have started to sign contracts and my colleagues have a daily target - and I personally monitor how the evaluation stage, the appeals stage, and the stage of all procedural stages evolve. They are very big projects. Last week we signed for a project of RON 800 million (€160 million) in Giurgiu County and others - both under one megawatt and over one megawatt. In the next period, you will see an increase in this rate, even higher than before, so that we can put this money in the market", added the minister.