In a context where our country is on an irreversible trajectory of energy transition from polluting sources to ecologically clean ones and we have unprecedented funds available from the European Commission, one of the main problems is the lack of people to manage these projects. At the Ministry of Energy, a team of only 100 people disposes of funds in the amount of 20 billion euros, says the deputy general secretary of the institution. NARE has the same problem with the lack of specialists who should provide a regulatory framework for the entire sector.

In December, the Ministry of Energy announces a competition for 20 positions, all open-ended.

Seven of them are in the Directorate of State Aid and European Funds, where there is a great shortage of specialists.

Another vacant post that is up for competition is the post of Director General of the Directorate General of Energy Policy and Green Deal.

Three more positions belong to the General Directorate of Legal and International Relations, and four to the General Directorate of Electricity and Natural Gas Markets, Efficiency and Risks.

Three more posts are open for competition in the Directorate-General for Anti-Fraud, Integrity and Inspection and two more in the Directorate for Logistics, IT, Archives and Registry.

100 people share 20 billion euros

Cătălin Bălan, deputy general secretary of the ministry, says that the lack of specialized staff is at the top of the list of problems facing the institution.

“If we look from afar, we see that this is a very important, priority sector for Romania, in which the Ministry is going to lead an investment of almost 20 billion euros (from the Modernization Fund and PNRR – no), with a staff of 360 people, of which, if we leave aside TESA staff and support departments, we will leave about 100 people who are directly involved and do everything that means opening tenders, evaluating projects, signing contracts, monitoring and implementation,” Belan said recently at the ZF Energy conference.

He noted that the private sector also lacks specialists for project management and consulting on these projects.

Instead, banks have hired very good people to analyze energy projects in recent years.

For his part, Gabriel Andronache, vice-president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), says that the lack of qualified personnel is one of the main problems currently facing the institution he represents.

“We have 350 employees, 40 of them on the territory, a scheme that has not changed in the last five years. But additional duties and tasks appeared. Verification of the method of carrying out calculations (with suppliers of the difference between the maximum amount paid by consumers in bills and the actual price for energy – no) is carried out by ANRE. It’s a hell of a job. A new general direction was created, personnel from all other directions were taken to create this structure,” Andronache said.

And the load will increase even more in the next period:

“Hydrogen legislation is emerging, contracts for difference, guarantees of origin will soon appear, everything needs to be decided by the same number of people. Many requests for permits for renewable energy projects have begun to be reviewed, compared to a period five years ago when there were none. We also have to pass regulations, we are approaching the fifth regulatory period, when we need to make changes to the by-laws.”

There are no vacancies for the competition in the next period on the NARE website.

Photo source: Dreamstime