Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said on Thursday, on the occasion of the completion of refurbishment works at Unit 5 of the Rovinari Thermal Power Plant of the Oltenia Energy Complex (CEO) that "one cannot shut down coal-fired facilities without putting something else in place."

"We cannot afford to retire coal-fired generators without replacing them with gas-fired power plants, so we cannot give up continuous coal-fired power generation without having a replacement source of energy. (...) The modernization of the 5 Rovinari Unit No. 5 is a strategic investment for the National Energy System, I think it is among the most important investments that have been put into operation in many years, an important amount of money was invested here, RON 628 million so far. (...) Many times and in the most difficult moments, Romania has also relied on the CEO power output, so I believe that this capacity must stay active, because energy security comes first, followed by the cost of energy and green transition is only third," Burduja said at the headquarters of the Rovinari power company.

Asked what switching this unit into capacity reserve at the end of next year means, Burduja said: "We start from the assumption we announced earlier - we cannot shut down coal capacities without putting something else in place, or next year we do not expect having the gas-fired capacities completed, most likely not in 2026 either, this will most probably happen somewhere towards the end of 2027 and our goal in all the discussions with the European Commission, and which we have already stated to our partners, is to extend these terms by one or two years, so that they are synchronized with the commissioning of the gas-fired units, first of all from Isalnita, then the one at Turceni. I'm sure the Mintia facility also helps, but all this comes in a time horizon in which we cannot afford to close the coal-fired capacities, let alone Unit 5. When the question of switching to the reserve arises, then the National Energy Regulatory Authority has all the necessary tools at hand to create the legal framework for the reserve capacity."

The refurbishment works of the Rovinari Unit 5 lasted ten years.

"Throughout this period, the CEO put in sustained efforts to complete this new investment. The CEO restructuring program includes Rovinari Units 4 and 5, which must remain in reserve capacity at the disposal of the Energy System until 2030, therefore it is very important that this investment, which was delayed due to several suppliers, was finally put into operation and all tests so far show that the designed parameters are reached," said the chairman of the CEO Board, Iulius Plaveti.

For compliance with the latest European environmental requirements, power Unit No. 5 has modern facilities implemented, including electrostatic dedusting equipment, flue gas desulphurization facility, heavy sludge sewage system and flue gas deoxidization facility, it is shown on the CEO website. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Popescu, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)