Since August 1, Ondřej Šafář is the new Country Manager of CEZ in România, replacing Martin Zmelik, who has led for nearly 5 years the CEZ Group’s operational activities here. 2017 was marked by the results of the operational success, as CEZ România returned to black with a 420 million lei net profit, an increase of 651 million lei compared to 2016. energynomics.ro welcomed Mr. Ondřej Šafář, and questioned him about the group priorities in the near future. The full interview will be published in the next issue of energynomics.ro Magazine, available since September 18th.

Dear Mr. Ondřej Šafář, you only came to România for a few months. However, you have a significant knowledge on România from the years before working in Bulgaria and Turkey. How you see the local energy landscape at present and how you found the CEZ organization in România as compared to the situation you were familiar in the past?

I am very happy to be here again in România after more than six years. I cannot forget that my career within CEZ Group started here in 2005. I am impressed with the achievements of the local team in the past six years, since I left România for other responsibilities. When you are involved in the day by day activities, you do not see the development very clearly, but when you are away, the changes are more visible.

When I told my colleagues in Turkey that I’m leaving for România, some of them told me that Romanians are very proud to work for CEZ. This energy that comes from the people will help us continue the running projects (such as Smart Transformation) and develop new ones.

As for România, I have the same good opinion about this country as I had when I left in 2012. It is obvious that products, services and the infrastructure are more developed than 6 years ago.

From Prague to Bucharest is longer a distance than from Bucharest to Ankara. I supposed you flied these routes frequently in recent years, not only in geography, but also in culture, regulations, and history. How is the Romanian energy market compared to those in Bulgaria and Turkey?

If I were to compare these three markets, the major criterion that I would consider is the competitiveness and I can state that in this moment, România is the most developed and therefore the most attractive. Not only from the perspective of an investor, but also from the perspective of the customers, a fully liberalized and competitive market makes it highly appealing. A vivid proof of the matter is the fact that even some players from Telco industry are active on the market.

The Bulgarian electricity market is currently shaped as a hybrid model. The supply of electricity at wholesale and retail level operates with both ‘regulated’ transactions (tariffs are determined by the electricity regulator) and liberalized segment for ‘free’ transactions, where electricity is supplied at freely negotiated prices.

In what it regards Turkey, it is definitely a huge market as there are 21 distribution regions with different levels of development, varying from Istanbul, which is a large city, to the Eastern part of Turkey, with limited electrification. Also, Turkey’s main strategy is to be fully energy independent and it focuses its diversification of energy sources on local resources and domestic production including coal and renewables. Capacities from these are set to grow further in the share of the country’s total energy mix. Turkey also opened solar and wind tenders to maximize the use of local resources.

Ondřej Šafář – Country Manager CEZ România

Electrotechnical engineer, with a Ph.D. from the Technical University of Prague, Ondřej Šafář is well familiar with the Balkan energy markets. Over the past 3 and a half years, Mr. Šafář was the CEO of Sepaş Enerji, a Turkish member of CEZ group, previously coordinating the group’s operations in Bulgaria and România.

He joined the CEZ team in April 2004. In November 2005, he came in Oltenia to join its colleagues from CEZ Group in România. In a 7-year term, he dealt with the actual construction of the Fântânele-Cogealac wind farm, as well as with the management of the renewable energy – hydro and wind power facilities or the coordination of CEZ Vânzare.

Starting August 1st, 2018, Ondřej Šafář has taken over the helm of CEZ affairs in România, as Country Manager and Chairman of CEZ România.