Fuel oil can no longer be used by the Elsen plants, which is a concern if the government decides to rationalize gas consumption in winter. why Because they work on gas, except for one.

Hotnews.ro published an article on Friday entitled “No plan for gas supply in winter. The only import contract is with Russia”, where I showed that even though it is October, we do not know where to get gas during the frosty winter periods.

I mentioned that earlier the Ministry of Energy drew up a specific plan, which outlined in black and white the measures that would be taken in exceptional situations so that the population and social institutions would not be left without gas.

One of the measures involved disconnecting the largest gas consumers Interagro, Azomureş and Electrocentrale Bucharest, CET in the capital switched to using fuel oil instead of gas.

Elcen claims that it can run on gas: the installations can no longer be converted to fuel oil

Following the article, Elcen posted a right of reply on Facebook on Monday, stating that its installations can no longer be converted to fuel oil, except for one within CET Progresu, and only in exceptional situations.

“ELCEN power plants operate entirely on natural gas. As a result of work on modernization of combustion plants in CETs, in order to comply with national and European environmental standards, fuel oil is no longer used in ELCEN as an alternative fuel. The steam boilers at the ELCEN power plants were modernized by replacing the burners with full operation on natural gas,” Elcen representatives say.

In the next four paragraphs, they emphasize how important environmental protection and emissions monitoring are to Elcen.

“We clarify that according to the Integrated Environmental Permit No. 10 of 24/12/2013, revised on 14/03/2022, the single combustion plant associated with the water heating boiler in CET Progresu can still use fuel oil as backup fuel, but only in exceptional cases , for a limited period, to compensate for a possible shortage of natural gas supply (for example, in winter with extreme temperatures, when there is a risk of a drop in natural gas pressure),” Elcen also reported on Facebook.

Elsen’s position demonstrates an even worse situation than we warned in Friday’s article. In other words, if in past years Elcen power plants could switch to fuel oil to leave more gas for the population, now they cannot. In addition, Azomureş and Interagro, the country’s largest gas consumers, are no longer operating, so it is unclear who else the authorities will cut off if necessary.

Dan Dragan, the Energy Department’s secretary of state, said a week ago that the department is working on an emergency response plan that will also include data on non-interruptible customers, meaning those who will be rationalized if needed.

In the past, Elsen was accused of polluting the capital

Elsen wanted to provide these clarifications after being a suspect in pollution scandals in the past, given that fuel oil is a much more polluting fuel than gas.

Even Gabriela Firea made these accusations in 2020 when she was mayor general.

She asked President Klaus Iohannis to analyze the pollution situation in Bucharest during a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT). According to her, the capital city hall has “several tracks, options for possible industrial pollutants”, noting that these assumptions are also based on a number of information.

“First of all, CET in Bucharest. It is possible that two of them were burning more fuel oil than their capacity, as they are very old, unmodernized and highly polluting. We received information that CET Grozăveşti and Progresul may have burned more fuel and also have dirty filters. This is a hint. We don’t blame anyone. We just want it checked and citizens well informed,” Firea said in March 2020.

In response, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu clarified that in those days Elcen consumed fuel oil in the proportion of 1.2%, and emission limits were observed.

“I don’t know why the administration there thought they had to use fuel oil. I know there’s also fuel oil from the state reserve. You’d have to ask them, I don’t know why they’re using that extra fuel oil. All Elcen emissions, in including CET Grozăvesti and Progresu, were within normal limits, below the maximum permissible limits,” said Popescu.