In the coming years, Romania has at its disposal unprecedented European funds of billions of euros for the transition to an energy sector with low emissions.
In a national first, energy poverty in small towns in Romania will be investigated. The Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), the initiator of the Romanian Energy Poverty Observatory (ORSE), has started, for the first time in the country, a pilot research project on energy poverty in small urban areas, an area at the intersection between big cities and the countryside. The objectives of the research are to identify how energy poverty manifests itself in small towns, which are the main challenges, but also which are the important actors and the specific solutions to reduce this phenomenon.
Romania must invest in the rehabilitation of buildings and heating systems to reduce energy poverty, through REPowerEU, according to the Romanian Energy Poverty Observatory (ORSE) experts. The essence of the REPowerEU investments and reforms package is to reduce energy poverty and the effects of the crisis at the level of the European Union. Measures such as improving the insulation of buildings inhabited by vulnerable consumers and replacing their heating and cooling systems with modern types of equipment are the most effective way to tackle energy poverty.
A significant portion of EU grants is allocated to support sustainable initiatives, further driving the rise in these types of loans.
Polish energy group Orlen announced that its subsidiary, Energa Operator, has secured a €1.8bn loan to modernize the power grid, preparing it for the integration of renewable energy sources.
OMV Petrom announced the commencement of construction for a production unit dedicated to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (HVO) at the Petrobrazi refinery.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €240 million loan to Slovakia for co-funding of EU-supported green and digital projects across the country.
In line with its 2030 ambition to decarbonize the hydrogen used in its European refineries, TotalEnergies has signed agreements with Air Liquide to develop two projects in the Netherlands.
