The Economy Ministry has recently launched a public debate on a new plan to reorganize the national energy system. This is the third shot taken at reconfiguring one of Romania’s economic lifelines.
Although nobody has made an official announcement in the matter, the two national energy giants, Electra and Hidroenergetica, heirs to the now defunct idea of a “national energy champion”, have been left behind. This is shown by the fact that companies meant for the two giants are now included in the structures of two new, smaller, complexes–Hunedoara and Oltenia.
The current plan drops the previous idea of creating an energy mix, and focuses on thermal power and coal. This approach emphasizes a resource that abounds in Romania, coal, while local gas and oil resources may not last longer than 15 years.
“A relevant part of the national energy mix is, and will continue to be, coal. As such, reorganization needs to follow viable coordinates,” said Cristina Filip, partner within law firm PeliFilip.
Given that this plan is of lesser size, compared to the previous ones, the ripples were not as strong, foreign investors did not react so harshly and there were no competition red flags raised.
“Romania needs to develop its energy sector as much as possible. As such, the reorganization of the energy complexes is imperative, in order to make them more profitable and more attractive to investors,” said Bryan Jardine, managing partner within law firm Wolf Theiss.
The ministry’s intention right now is to separate between lignite and pit coal producers separately.
“These units will most likely step up cooperation between thermal power producers and their raw material suppliers,” Jardine added.