Romanians will be hit hard by new European rules to phase out gas, oil and fuel-fired power plants by 2040 in all member states, according to an analysis by the Intelligent Energy Association. The European Parliament voted on Tuesday in favor of a legislative package to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector, and among the provisions is a ban on residential power plants from 2040. The legislative package concerns Romania, especially in the conditions in which it is engaged in the full development of distribution networks through the Anghel Saligni program.

The Intelligent Energy Association is asking the authorities to use all means to obtain a concession on the postponement of the ban on thermal power plants in Romania until at least 2050.

The Brussels government is reducing gas consumption, we are increasing it

The future policy of building heating in Romania is based on the Angel Saligna Program – development of gas distribution networks and the Black Sea Gas Utilization Program. These programs should reach their maximum around 2030-2035, that is, when Romania decides to vote in the European Parliament to ban the use of gases, notes the Intelligent Energy Association.

It argues that other European countries are justified in choosing to ban the use of gas as their access to gas becomes increasingly limited with the passage of time and the scarcity of gas resources. But this is not the case for Romania, which has just invested several billion euros in the development of gas from the Black Sea and hundreds of millions more in the development of gas transportation and distribution networks.

The Brussels authorities are pressing from all sides to reduce gas consumption. On March 4, the Council of Energy Ministers of the EU countries reached a political agreement on the recommendation to continue the voluntary reduction of gas demand.

In particular, member states are encouraged to further reduce their gas consumption by 31 March 2025 by at least 15% compared to their average gas consumption from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

From August 2022, when we were at the height of the energy crisis, to December 2023, the EU cut gas consumption by 19%.

The ideas have also reached the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which says new gas exploration projects run counter to climate change goals. The OECD suggests that Romania take climate change into account when making decisions on granting new licenses for gas and crude oil exploration. Some countries, such as Denmark, France and Ireland, have announced a ban on new oil and gas exploration

Intelligent Energy Association: Romania should get a concession

Romania should have been categorically against the provisions of the European Directive on the ban of gases and should have demanded a retreat, taking into account the specifics of our country, at least until 2050 and a return to the concept of net zero CO2 emissions, says the Romanian Association of Intelligent Energy.

As early as 2021, the Association proposed the Building Heating Program, which was supposed to include: – Local energy consumption (LES) – the predominant use of local energy resources and Unique Energy Grid (UEG) – the development in large cities of several district heating systems for the production and distribution of heat and cold with horizontal distribution to consumers.

Such a decision will require great courage and will be painful for many consumers in large cities, requiring the use of current systems without further investment in them until the completion of the implementation of the UEG construction concept, which will cover an estimated period of 15-25 years, the Association believes.

Identifying local energy sources (LES) that can be used for each region of the country will allow us to maximize the benefits of these sources, reduce energy transportation costs, relieve certain areas, use new technologies and forms of energy in areas where we have no real alternatives.

Thus, each locality must create its own LES, which will be supported by national public policy.

According to the Intelligent Energy Association, local energy sources should be used as follows:

• in the central part, as well as in areas with natural gas resources, they should continue to use natural gas in an individual system, simultaneously with loss reduction measures, efficiency and measures for CO2 capture and storage in depleted fields with the aim of achieving Zero net CO2 in in 2050;
• in the western and northwestern part of Romania, where there are geothermal resources, it is important to support the exploitation and development of geothermal resources through national and local public policies;
• in mountainous and mountain areas, national and local public policy should support the use and development of technologies for the use of biomass, biogas and waste;
• in the eastern part of Romania, the development of heating resources should consider supporting the use of heat pumps and waste, operating with high investment costs but with low operating costs, thus being a means of solving the social problems faced by this area
• in the south-east and south of Romania, the development of new networks for the distribution of hydrogen or hydrogen-natural gas mixture, hydrogen that can be produced from excess renewable energy produced in the immediate vicinity of these areas (Dobrudja), from where they can be transported by pipelines and used in the mixture with natural gas after adaptation of existing networks, simultaneously with loss reduction measures, efficiency and CO2 capture and storage measures in depleted fields with the aim of reaching net zero CO2 in 2050;
• in congested areas (for example, Bucharest – Ploiesti) – small nuclear modules – SMR, which have the ability to produce thermal energy and electricity.