The energy sector is facing a crisis—an officially acknowledged one this time—and decisions made over the years, along with attempts to solve problems in a “firefighting” manner (reacting day-to-day), simply do not work in the energy industry, stated Silvia Vlăsceanu, Executive Director of the Electricity Producers Association (HENRO).

“Indeed, we are in a moment of declared crisis this time, though the energy sector has faced countless difficult moments over the last 35 years. Without pointing fingers at who might ultimately be responsible, I believe we all share some of the blame—stemming from the reorganization of the energy system (or the energy sector in general) to political instability and a lack of predictability. In the energy sector, we need stability and predictability; it would be best to limit interventions and ensure as much predictability as possible so we don’t find ourselves in difficult situations—situations that, more often than not, were not created by sector specialists but by decisions made over the years, followed by attempts to fix things in a ‘firefighting’ style, day-to-day, which doesn’t really work in energy. In plain terms: ‘patchwork’ fixes and measures taken only in extreme situations just don’t work,” Vlăsceanu said, according to Agerpres.

The representative for electricity producers added that there remains a need for investment in generation capacity. “As these intermittent sources have developed and come to account for an increasingly large share, the existing market model and price-setting mechanism are no longer valid. Admittedly, Romania cannot simply step in and introduce a different model, as we operate within an interconnected market; such a move would not be beneficial, nor is it even feasible. To put this in perspective: before the advent of intermittent sources, the rule of thumb for an optimal setup was one gigawatt of installed capacity per million inhabitants—a classic model. In the 1990s, we had a population of around 22 million and approximately 22,000 megawatts (20 gigawatts) of installed capacity—derived solely from conventional sources like coal, hydropower, and natural gas. Currently, European statistics indicate that a reasonable figure—one that ensures a sense of security regarding a balanced energy mix for both consumers and industry—would be around 2.6 gigawatts per million inhabitants. We are currently at about 1.2. Therefore, we still need investment in generation capacity,” the energy specialist emphasized.

In the view of the head of HENRO, energy generation capacities must be complementary, and the development of other segments must proceed concurrently. “Indeed, intermittent sources can be implemented, developed, and brought online much faster than other sources such as natural gas, coal, hydropower, and nuclear power. Investments must be made concurrently; we shouldn’t simply be decommissioning existing capacity. These sources need to complement one another—and not just in terms of generation. At the same time, other segments—transmission and distribution—must also be developed; otherwise, we risk seeing the kind of issues that have already occurred. Although specific investment costs for wind and solar power have dropped significantly compared to 15 years ago—when the first wind farm was commissioned—the costs of other equipment have risen. Back in 2011, solar power cost around two million euros per megawatt, whereas now it is below or around 500,000 euros. However, the costs for other equipment—not just turbines but also transformers—have increased. There is demand for transformers of all capacities as renewable energy sources expand (…) Ultimately, overall costs remain high, and developing intermittent renewable generation sources is pointless if we fail to invest in the other necessary components as well,” stated Silvia Vlăsceanu.