Hundreds of Millions of Euros from the Modernization Fund for Funding Strategic Projects in the Energy Sector in Romania
The Ministry of Energy on September 14 submitted to the European Investment Bank the first applications for funding from the budget of the Modernization Fund of strategic projects in the energy sector. It’s about hundreds of millions of euros.
In the European legislative context on combating climate change and energy transition in order to increase the level of ambition for the reduction of emissions, increase the share of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency measures and the level of interconnectivity of power grids, according to the goals undertaken in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (INECP), which represents Romania’s commitment to the common effort of fulfilling the European objectives in the energy and climate areas established for 2030, the Ministry of Energy, as competent authority for the management and implementation of the Modernization Fund, has submitted to EIB, through the related platform, 9 proposals of projects for funding from the Modernization Fund, with a total investment cost of over EUR 693mln, of which over EUR 492mln were requested from the Modernization Fund.
These include: a project belonging to the beneficiary CNTEE Transelectrica – New overhead line (OHL) 400kv d.c. Constanta Nord – Medgidia Sud; total CAPEX (excluding VAT) EUR 22,992,330/Eligible costs: EUR 22,992,330; 8 projects belonging to the beneficiary Complexul Energetic Oltenia, total CAPEX (excluding VAT) EUR 670,802,780.
| No. | Investment name | Total CAPEX (EUR) | Funding from the Modernization Fund (EUR) |
| 1 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the Bohorelu dump – UMC Jilt | 18,476,771.240 | 12,933,740.000 |
| 2 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the outer dump of the Pinoasa quarry – UMC Pinoasa | 68,431,830.490 | 47,902,281.000 |
| 3 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the Rovinari Est dump | 104,090,452.270 | 72,863,317.000 |
| 4 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the closed ash and slag depots in SE Isalnita | 76,331,437.790 | 53,432,006.000 |
| 5 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the closed ash and slag depots in SE Rovinari | 73,125,623.480 | 51,187,936.000 |
| 6 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the closed ash and slag depots in SE Turceni | 100,582,366.430 | 70,407,657.000 |
| 7 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the inner dump within the Tismana 1 – Rosia-Rovinari quarry | 114,406,488.620 | 80,084,542.000 |
| 8 | Construction of a photovoltaic park on the inner dump within the Tismana 2 – Rosia-Rovinari quarry | 115,357,809.740 | 80,750,467.000 |
| TOTAL | 670,802,780.060 | 469,561,946.000 |
Implementation of the project ‘New overhead line (OHL) 400kv d.c. Constanta Nord – Medgidia Sud’ will contribute to the security, flexibility and adequacy of the National Energy System, providing the prerequisites for the commissioning of new production capacities of energy from renewable sources.
To be able to quickly replace the closed coal-fired capacities, renewable energy must play a key role in supporting the national decarbonization objectives and in accordance with the specific recommendations of each country.
The projects related to the beneficiary CE Oltenia S.A., mentioned above, submitted for funding from the Modernization Fund, are in line with the objectives of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (INECP) of emission reduction for 2030, increase in the share of energy from renewable sources and replace coal in the energy mix.
At the same time, the presented investment projects are included in the Restructuring Plan of CEO, which is in fact a decarbonization plan by replacing coal-fired capacities with energy capacities from renewable sources and natural gas with hydrogen. The main long-term objective is to reduce the carbon footprint of the main coal-fired electricity producer in Romania, CE Oltenia, thus contributing to reaching the decarbonization targets for Romania, and in the short and medium term aims at the approval of the plan by the European Commission and transformation of the rescue aid granted to CEO into a restructuring aid. Given the positive signals from the Commission, approval of the Plan will be obtained in the near future, and it is important to start as soon as possible investments in production capacities based on renewable energy for the success of the restructuring plan.
Also, the application of these investments falls within the target of the Paris Agreement on climate neutrality by 2050, as it leads to the reduction of carbon emissions and primary energy consumption through production from renewable sources.
