The Bumbesti investment is in an extremely advanced phase, but there we have to protect a fish that has no economic importance, as well as a crayfish that has never been found, said Bogdan Badea, president of Hidroelectrica's directorate, on Wednesday."In Bumbesti we have resumed all procedures in accordance with the current legislation. We are in an extremely advanced phase. We have been submitting the documentation for more than two and a half months to enter the last stages of the evaluation for obtaining the environmental agreement. As of now, we have not received any feedback from the authorities. In this case, we have a series of tasks given by the environmental authorities in terms of the measures that we need to implement in order to be in line with what the people at the Protected Areas are asking of us. We have to protect an alder that is found in all of Europe. We have to protect this fish which, also from public information, does not represent and has no economic importance whatsoever, and we have to protect a crayfish that has never been found, but would be conditions to live there. In such derisory situations we find ourselves with the measures we should implement. Moreover, we have the obligation, for ten years, to look for that crayfish. No one has found it yet...In Rastolita, since 2017, when we obtained the Government Decision of expropriation on that investment objective, we have taken all the steps, but similar to the situation in Bumbesti, the authorities ask us from our own initiative to revise the environmental agreement, although we have the construction permit," stressed Badea, within the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry for establishing the causes of the substantial increase of the prices of natural gas and electricity.He added that it is not normal that, once approvals and agreements have been received for any large, long-term investment objective of commissioning, a company should be obliged to stop the works "and ask the authorities whether or not they are still valid".In reply, Octavian Patrascu, director of the Regulatory Directorate of the National Agency for Environmental Protection (ANPM), said that, at the moment, for Hidroelectrica's investment, the Impact Assessment Study is being analyzed, which includes both the Adequate Evaluation Study and the Study on Water Bodies, the conditions "put in the standard form and in the application for declaring the Jiu Gorge National Park and in the Management Plan that is not yet completed."Hidroelectrica announced, at the middle of last year, that it planned the execution of new projects with an estimated value of almost 18 billion lei, with a total installed power of 713.62 MW, which can ensure an average annual production of 3,396.79 GWh/year, according to the investment strategy published by the company. One of the projects is aimed at the Jiu River Hydropower Development (AHE) on the Livezeni - Bumbesti sector, and the estimated term of commissioning was 2022.AHE Rastolita is another project under consideration, the completion of the investment objective being decided on the basis of the results of the financial analyses and the profitability calculations regarding the technical-economic efficiency made by Hidroelectrica's internal committees. By completing these works, the energy intake in the SEN (National Energy Grid) will be about 46.3 GWh annually.For Rastolita Phase 2, Hidroelectrica is considering the analysis of the optimization of the remaining works to be executed for Phase 2. If the value of the optimized works will lead to favorable economic indicators, about 70.7 GWh will be produced annually.The estimated deadline for commissioning for Phase 1 is 2022 and 2027 for Phase 2, respectively.
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
A young Romanian has developed a new system that allows people to return entire bags of recyclable packaging at once, replacing the traditional method of inserting bottles one by one into reverse-vending machines. The concept, called IZI, was created by Ștefan Parascanu, who returned to Romania after studying and working in the United Kingdom. The […]
JTI, the global owner of both Winston and Camel, announced on Thursday, November 27, a plan to build a new, state-of-the-art factory in Ștefăneștii de Jos, Ilfov County. Designed to replace the current Bucharest production site, which is operating under space constraints, the facility is scheduled for completion in 2027. Ground works at the new […]
The City Hall of Oradea, in northwest Romania, has begun installing new smart parking meters as part of its ongoing modernization and digitalization of the municipal parking system. The first batch of devices has already been placed in central areas, and the entire system is expected to become operational by the end of the year. […]
Orange Romania announced the launch of the 5G+ technology in the Bucharest subway, becoming the first operator in the country to reach mobile data speeds of up to 1 Gbps in the underground network. The company has begun activating the technology in several stations and plans wider deployment in the coming weeks. The first 5G+ […]
PPC blue Romania, the electric mobility division of the PPC group, announced the expansion of its national charging infrastructure through the acquisition of the Hermes Flow network, adding 116 new charging points for electric vehicles. Most are located in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, with the rest in 10 other counties. Once fully integrated, users will have […]
