“In the last 20 years, this sector has not been seen as an essential infrastructure component, capable of supporting economic growth, but has been used as an instrument to directly subsidize the inefficient economy, or as a social protection instrument,” says a paper on the priorities of Romania’s new energy strategy, written by Anton Vladescu, of the Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council, and Valeriu Binig, director of financial advisory services, energy & resources and corporate finance, at Deloitte.
The system’s problems include the decapitalization of the state-owned energy producers, the aging production facilities, and the lack of regulatory stability and predictability.
Successive administrations have attempted to reorganize the energy system, but have always drawn protest from investors. In addition, the state-owned producers have failed to attract investment on their own.
In the last 20 years, the state has succeeded in building only two new energy production units – the Cernavoda nuclear plant’s second reactor and a new group at the Paroseni thermal plant.