Bogdan Ivan: If we shut down the coal-fired units at Complexul Energetic Oltenia, we would be at real risk of blackout

The minister of economy, Bogdan Ivan informed on Friday that he ordered through TransElectrica an independent study which should show if the coal-fired units at Complexul Energetic Oltenia closed down, there would ‘ really’ be a risk of blackout.Ivan was asked in a press conference, at the headquarters of PSD if there is the risk of blackout in case the authorities in Romania do not discuss with the representatives of the European Commission the postponement of the closure of coal-fired units. 'This week, more specifically on Wednesday, we held several negotiations at European Commission level on this extremely important topic. In line with the commitments made five years ago, when the NRRP was built, Romania has taken on the most aggressive decarbonization target in the entire European Union. This means that by the end of 2025, that is, in three and a half months' time, Romania should close all the coal-fired power plants it has in operation today. The condition was very simple - to replace them with other gas-fired plants', the minister explained. He added that Romania took almost two billio euro from this NRRP milestone but the gas units and the projects which had to be made with this money are ‘ paper projects’for the moment.'It's obvious that the European Commission, quite rightly, asked us - people, we gave you the money; either you give us the money back if you want to keep the coal-fired power plants, or you close them (...) We commissioned an independent study through TransElectrica which showed that Romania, at the moment, is facing four scenarios, the one in which we, if we were to close the coal-fired units at the Oltenia Power Complex, would be at real risk of blackout. I came with technical arguments. This study has over six thousand pages. My colleagues from the ministry, together with those from the European Commission, have been working weekends and nights over the last few weeks to be able to agree this study at a technical level', Bogdan Ivan said. ‘I hope the arguments brought will create the framework for Romania to avoid penalties for the non-closure and not meeting the commitments taken and we could keep at least three groups functioning and another two in reserve out of the five which today are part of the milestone’ he said.