Minister Bogdan Ivan has clarified the theory of hydropower plants in protected areas

The Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, harshly criticized the administrative and ecological blockages that delay the completion of hydropower projects that began three decades ago. The official claims that the protection zones were "drawn" later and promised measures to treat these investments as national security objectives. Bogdan Ivan stated on a television station that Romania risks major imbalances if it does not quickly introduce new energy production capacities. "In half a year, maximum nine months, we must stabilize and reduce the price to the final consumer," said the minister. He explained that he is working with experts from the country and abroad, from the private and academic environment, to find quick solutions. A strategic document is to be discussed in the interministerial group led by the prime minister and introduced in the CSAT.

• "Blocked by mollusks”

The minister recalled that the hydropower plants started 30 years ago were not originally located in protected areas. "Some very inspired people came to the Ministry of Environment, found some mollusks somewhere and started drawing. Today, Romania has 370 MW of installed hydro capacity blocked because of such decisions,” said Ivan. The official mocked the situation in which "officials send clarifications with the name of a fish, written in one way or another,” unnecessarily extending deadlines. Ivan also pointed out the social impact of delays in the energy sector. "People with pensions of 1,500-2,000 lei are wondering how to pay such high energy bills, when Romania could produce more and cheaper,” said the minister. The Energy Minister rejected the idea of a direct confrontation with environmental organizations. "I'm not going to accept explanations worth two lei. I'm not going to war with NGOs. I'm creating the legal framework through which projects - from gas power plants to nuclear and hydro - are included in national security objectives," Ivan explained. He stated on TV that he would propose to CSAT to mandate ANRE to regulate the market through mechanisms similar to those in Western European countries: "In the document that is going to CSAT, I propose to CSAT a decision that mandates this ANRE, which is in the vision of some in that institution independent, irremovable and so on, to regulate the market through mechanisms similar to those in Western European countries, I mean Spain, Germany, France, which have mechanisms through which you can no longer have any doubts, at the moment, that there are those smart guys who make huge profits without producing a kilowatt of energy in this country. And we have examples from journalistic investigations to other examples that we see, in which there are companies that do not have a megawatt of production and make hundreds of millions of euros. What we have done so far and asked ANRE to do is remove part of the potential speculation by obliging all those who buy energy in advance to put up a minimum guarantee 10%, if they don't honor their contract, lose that money.”

He announced that he is considering a bill to block the disconnection of vulnerable customers: "Currently, there are four companies that provide electricity for less than one leu and 30 bani, the maximum ceiling before the elimination on July 1, people can look at the price comparator, they can freely choose to move to another supplier that gives them a better price at the moment. Separately, I am not telling you that I am considering a bill to block the disconnection of those vulnerable customers, on the one hand, who cannot afford to pay their bills, and a mechanism through which for people with an income of up to 2,500-3,000 lei we would have a maximum price of one leu per kilowatt. There are mechanisms that are currently being worked on, which I want to operationalize this winter, in order to get through this difficult period. A large part of the inflation of almost 10% now is caused by the price of electricity." He added: "I came to the Ministry of Energy three months ago and I took each project separately, I took the cost structure so that I could understand how God has brought us to where today we have a kilowatt-hour (kWh) paid for with 1.30, 1.50, 1.55. It was fixed at the beginning of the mandate. Romania today pays the most expensive electricity sometimes, on certain time intervals, in Europe, on average we have on the stock exchange transactions in the last week an average of 145 euros and I give you a comparison: France, which has an average of 61 euros per megawatt-hour. In the last 10 years, Romania has taken out of production approximately 7,000 megawatts of gas and coal-based production capacity, production capacity in the band and has only put in place 1,200 megawatts, other production capacity of electricity in the band".

• Energy Transition Urgency

Declarations Come Amid Domestic Pressures and international for Romania to accelerate the energy transition. While the EU sets new emission reduction targets for 2035 and 2040, Bucharest seeks a balance between respecting environmental standards and the need to ensure energy security and affordable bills for the population.