By Petre Barac

Copyright thediplomat

“We are glad that in recent years, at least, we have enjoyed some predictability. Hidroelectrica’s supply portfolio has grown significantly. We have adapted both our IT infrastructure and our staff to the challenges of the liberalized market. And I like to believe that what happened in past years was the last push of state intervention in the free market. Because what we all want is to operate in a competitive market where, ultimately, supply meets demand—for the benefit of operators and market players, but also, in the end, for the benefit of consumers.”

“Today, there is massive investment in renewables. The energy sector is no longer what it was 10 years ago. We lack many baseload capacities, and this is visible. There is an imbalance in the energy system.”

“Hidroelectrica is currently investing in diversification. That is what we are doing right now. We are investing in hybridization, and we have understood in recent years that if we do not adapt our business model to the market, it will no longer be efficient. We want to remain one of the most efficient and competitive players in both the supply and production markets. At the moment, we have investments worth over 3 billion lei in various stages of execution—both in diversification and in adding new capacities to Hidroelectrica’s portfolio, as well as in re-technologization, modernization, and efficiency improvements of existing capacities, which we increasingly need.”

“We need balancing more and more, and we need storage more and more. In this regard, we have two storage projects under implementation today. One is at the Crucea wind farm, where we have 36 MW installed capacity in batteries, with 72 MW storage capacity. We also have a larger storage project under tender—256 MW at Portile de Fier II. Why? Because we understand that where we have baseload production capacities, we must shift the energy produced during the day to the times when the system needs it most—during peak hours. This can only be done with storage.”

“What we are doing today is combining different renewable energy sources. We are currently implementing the first floating photovoltaic pilot project together with Waldevar—10 MW installed capacity. This means we will combine the energy obtained from existing hydro capacities with solar and storage. I believe this is the future for Hidroelectrica in terms of transforming its business model and in how we will deliver power plants from now on.”

“Large-scale storage in reservoirs is essential. Romania has significant potential from an energy perspective. We have many projects in various stages of execution that are blocked for different reasons. Here, the lack of legislative predictability, the lack of coherence in such projects, and not least, the interpretability of legal provisions that leave room for all sorts of disputes have all done significant harm—resulting in delays in commissioning capacities that are meant to ensure water accumulation.”