All the priority investments we manage are oriented towards storage, and by the end of this year we will have 1,500 MW installed, storage from the PNRR and the Modernization Fund, declared, on Wednesday, in a press conference organized at the Government, the Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan.
“Currently, all the priority investments that we manage at the Ministry of Energy level are oriented towards storage, and by the end of this year we will have installed 1,500 MW of storage from the PNRR and the Modernization Fund. We have also prepared two financing sessions worth 300 million euros for stand-alone storage parks, which will come to balance the National Energy System. If, for example, during the day, when we have overproduction, we manage to store that energy and we can use it in the evening, when we have peak consumption, we will automatically be in a situation where we will be able to temper these price increases, we will be able to temper the balancing market which, today, for only 18% of the amount of energy consumed at national level, its cost exceeds 40% of the total cost of energy consumed today in Romania. Also, two extremely important priorities – the production of electricity from hydro for pumped storage – we have two projects that we are currently working on for the analysis of feasibility studies, in Tarniţa, Cluj County, and in Frasin-Pângăraţu, in Neamţ County. On February 28, a Memorandum was adopted in the Romanian Government clarifying the legal aspects regarding the stages for the implementation of these projects and we are moving forward with full force”, explained Ivan, according to Agerpres.
According to the official, by 2027, the investments that will be completed will inject approximately 5,800 MW of energy into the grid, of which 3,600 MW will come from renewable sources.
“In terms of the investments that we expect to be completed and to inject energy into the grid, by the end of 2027, that is, in two years, we will enter with approximately 5,800 MW, of which 3,600 are renewable. In terms of the structure of these investments, which are now being carried out by the Ministry of Energy, through the PNNR and the Modernization Fund, by the end of this year, we will have a total of new installed power in plants of approximately 2,000 MW on solar, 350 MW on wind, 2,200 MW on gas, the two plants in Arad and Constanţa, plus Iernut, which has a completion date of 2026, as well as the Mintia Plant, which is in an advanced phase of implementation, which is an extremely important private investment”, stated the Minister of Energy.
He also stressed that the main problem at the moment is related to the “extremely high” price of energy.
“(…) the entire philosophy that I approached, once I took over the portfolio of Minister of Energy, together with market specialists, was the one in which we analyzed production data, as well as data related to prices, because the main problem we have at the moment is this extremely high price. We have a situation in which massive investments have been made in photovoltaic production and thus we have reached a point where, during the day, when we have sunshine in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, we reach a negative price, at a price of one leu, 5 lei, 10 lei per megawatt”, said Bogdan Ivan.