Centralized heating is the only solution for Bucharest, provided it works efficiently and at decent costs, and the new thermal energy supply strategy for the next 10 years is much more realistic and more applied to the current needs of Bucharest residents, compared to the document developed in 2017, says the executive director of the Bucharest-Ilfov Termoenergetica Intercommunity Development Association (ADITBI), Andrei Creci.

“The new Strategy for supplying consumers with thermal energy in a centralized system in Bucharest is drawn up in perfect accordance with the quality standards required by ANRE Order no. 146/2021, a document that harmonizes Romanian and European legislation in the field of national/local strategies for the population’s thermal energy supply service. I consider this Strategy much more realistic and more applied to the current needs of the citizens of Bucharest. The centralized heating system in Bucharest is indeed in a very difficult situation. The lack of investments when needed (years 1990-2000) brought the system close to collapse. It is obvious, however, that central heating is the only solution for our city, as it is for any urban agglomeration in Europe and the world. The only condition: to work efficiently and at decent costs,” said Andrei Creci, according to Agerpres.

In his opinion, the efficient functioning of the system means having enough production capacity to cover all the needs of consumers, not having losses on the network, and the thermal agent reaching people’s homes at the right temperature.

The strategy focuses on four major directions, namely the continuation of investments in the repair and modernization of the transport and distribution network, the creation of new sources of thermal energy production, especially in the North and East of Bucharest, the implementation of alternative, modern and friendly energy solutions the environment (geothermal water, biomass, heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, etc.) and the attraction of private investments in the production of thermal energy.

“The current Strategy has another quality, from my point of view: it is open, it leaves room for a lot of solutions to improve the service of production, transport, supply and distribution of the thermal agent. It will be very easy to be respected by all future administrations, but it must be understood that the only solution to save the heating system is to allocate money for repairs, modernizations, the creation of new production capacities and finding innovative solutions for Bucharest, but which in other capitals of Europe work from for years, for example in Copenhagen, which is the champion of centralized heating, with the most efficient and modern system,” stressed Andrei Creci.