By Petre Barac

Copyright thediplomat

OMV Petrom and Energy Policy Group (EPG) announce the completion of the modernization and energy renovation works carried out through the România Eficientă program at Tudor Vladimirescu Technological High School in Șimian, Mehedinți County. With an investment of over EUR 1.5 million supported by OMV Petrom, the building has reached the nZEB standard – nearly Zero Energy Building.

The high school dormitory in Șimian is the second energy renovated school building inaugurated in 2025, following the inauguration of workshops and laboratories building of the Technological High School in Vernești, Buzău County, completed at the beginning of the year. In total, since the start of the program, 5 school units were renovated.

Christina Verchere, OMV Petrom CEO: “Energy efficiency is key to a sustainable future, and education plays a vital role in this journey. Through the România Eficientă program, launched in 2019, we invest approximately 15 million euro to modernize schools with low-energy technologies and to support information campaigns. The inauguration of the fifth nZEB-standard unit marks another step forward in building smarter, greener communities.”

Radu Dudău, EPG President and coordinator of the România Eficientă program: “The project in Șimian marks an important milestone for România Eficientă: in 2025 we successfully completed two major deep renovation projects of school buildings in rural areas, now upgraded to the nZEB standard. The dormitory of the Tudor Vladimirescu Technological High School is today a safe, modern, and energy-efficient building, showing that transforming educational infrastructure is possible not only in large urban centers, but also in smaller communities.

Through this investment, we have significantly reduced energy consumption and associated carbon emissions, while creating a healthy and comfortable environment for dozens of students and teachers.”

The building serves as a student dormitory, hosting 60 pupils each school year, supervised by 3 teachers.

Built in the 1970s, with a floor area of 1,100 sqm, the facility faced serious issues prior to renovation: poor thermal insulation, exterior degradation, worn-out joinery, faulty electrical and sanitary installations as well as the complete absence of ventilation and climate control systems.

The project aimed to increase energy performance, solve all these deficiencies, as well as comply with modern safety, health and accessibility standards.

Following the completion of the works, the students housed in the boarding school will benefit from a quality indoor environment, the annual energy consumption of the building decreases by 60%, while reducing carbon emissions by 45%.

The key renovation and modernization works included:

Thermal insulation of walls with 15 cm basalt mineral wool panels;

Insulation of the terrace slab with 30 cm extruded polystyrene;

Installation of energy-efficient PVC windows with triple glazing;

A new hybrid heating system, combining air-to-water heat pumps with a gas boiler;

Modernization of the domestic hot water system with three boilers connected to a solar station powered by six solar thermal panels;

Replacement of sanitary and heating installations;

Complete refurbishment of the electrical system;

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in the dining hall and classrooms;

A high-performance LED lighting system;

Thermal insulation of the basement ceiling with 15 cm polystyrene;

A photovoltaic system with a total installed capacity of 30 kW.

The Tudor Vladimirescu Technological High School in Șimian is the fifth public education institution in Romania to benefit from an nZEB-standard building through the România Eficientă program, besides Elie Radu Energy Technology High School in Ploiești (Prahova County), Liliești Secondary School in Băicoi (Prahova County), Zig-Zag Kindergarten in Ovidiu (Constanța County) and The Technological High School in Vernești (Buzău County).

România Eficientă is a nation-wide private project carried out by Energy Policy Group (EPG) in partnership and with funding from OMV Petrom. The project started in the summer of 2019 and consists of carrying out a national program for the promotion of energy efficiency. România Eficientă aims to support achieving Romania’s targets for 2030 in terms of reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency, both through information and education campaigns, and by carrying out concrete major renovation projects in public schools in different regions of the country.