Romania will gradually shut down its entire 4.59GW coal-fired power plants by the end of 2032 under a frontload schedule, according to the recovery and resilience plan (PNRR) sealed with the European Commission. Romania has become the 19th European country to formalise plans to exit coal, announced Europe Beyond Coal (EBC) - an alliance of civil society groups working to catalyse the closures of coal mines and power plants. "With only 810 MW of coal planned to remain in the system between 2026 and 2032, we're confident that Romania will very quickly discover the massive benefits a clean, renewable energy-based economy brings with it and will redouble its effort to exit coal this decade," the alliance's statement reads. EBC uses the opportunity to recommend countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Germany to follow the example and phase out hard coal and lignite power generation. Nevertheless, giving up the coal is far from being smooth and straightforward or a done deal in Romania. The sharp rise in electricity prices faced by Romania this year is partly due to scarce generation capacities (conventional or renewable), and the commitments put even more pressure on the deficit hence prices. Most of the capacity (3.78GW) will be closed by the end of 2023, according to the data included in the PNRR, quoted by Economica.net. Under the schedule, Romania pledged to shut down units with a total capacity of nearly 1.70GW this year. The capacity left in place after the end of 2025 (0.8GW) is the equivalent of three large groups of Oltenia Energy Complex (probably the entire Rovinari power plant), which, according to sources consulted by Economica.net, will be maintained as a strategic reserve at the disposal of the national energy dispatch. To substitute the coal-fired plants, Romania will invest in new gas-fired power plants with a capacity of 1.3GW by the end of 2025. The new renewable capacities will reach at least 3GW by mid-2026, out of which 2GW is to be completed by the end-2025, according to the PNRR. Currently, Romania has a total installed capacity of 3GW in wind farms and almost 1.4GW in solar power plants. Under a schedule sketched by 2030, the country plans to add 6.9 GW of new renewable energy capacity before 2030. More than 3.7 GW of that capacity is projected to be solar projects.
The Romanian city of Alba Iulia will attempt to set a Guinness World Record on Saturday, September 13, with Masa Care Unește/The Table That Unites, a massive community gathering where more than 10,000 people will sit at a 2.7-kilometer-long table built entirely from recycled materials around the historic Alba Carolina Citadel. The event, organized by […]
Discount retailer Pepco celebrated a decade of operations in Romania on Thursday, September 11, with the opening of its 500th store nationwide. The company, which first entered the country in 2015 with stores in Bucharest, Ploiești, and Câmpina, now operates in more than 100 cities and employs nearly 4,000 people. Romania has become Pepco Group’s […]
Social Democrat (PSD) MP Mihai Weber, head of the parliamentary defense committee, came under fire after investigative platform Snoop unveiled his EUR 140,000 hybrid Mercedes AMG GLE 53 purchased this year through a small firm that operates no more than a countryside...
Touching high public expectations for initiating reforms in the judiciary system, Romania's president Nicusor Dan explained in two consecutive interviews given to the public TVR and B1 broadcasters that "it takes time and a critical mass," but assured that he has not abandoned "at all" the idea. On the magistrates' retirement and pensions, he reiterated […]
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest on September 11 to convey its position of firm condemnation of the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, according to a ministry's press release. "The Romanian side stressed that, by its gravity, implications and scope, the incident represents an unprecedented escalation, […]
Spanish group Ecoener announced it boosts its expansion in the European Union with the upcoming construction of a 54.4 MW wind farm in Miroslovesti, in north-eastern Romania, after being awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD). The company has been awarded a 15-year contract in the Romanian government’s renewable energy tender. It plans to begin construction […]
