The programme for storing solar energy in batteries, which will be launched this year, will help bring down market prices, Minister of Environment, Water and Forests Diana Buzoianu said on Monday at the 'Energy in the Spotlight' conference.
'It would be somewhat arrogant of me to explain supply and your energy market to you, because the reality is that you are the people who know it best. You are the actors who, together with the Ministry of Energy, can develop this area much further. As far as the Ministry of Environment is concerned, what we have managed to do is somewhat change the paradigm of environmental funding projects. Last year, when we launched the idea that we actually have this huge potential among prosumers, who did not yet have storage batteries, and that we would change the programme for the following year - so that it would no longer be a programme for photovoltaic panels, but that we would also catch up on battery storage - I remember the public reaction: open letters were issued saying that we would shut down a programme that was popular and loved throughout Romania.
'Then came the drought crisis and the problems at Cernavoda, and suddenly the discussion about storage - about the fact that we could have helped bring down energy prices simply because we would have energy storage and would no longer need to import electricity at peak prices in the evening, but could use the energy we already have, which we simply do not store - became much more widely accepted in the public debate,' Buzoianu said.
According to the minister, with the launch in 2026 of a programme dedicated to battery energy storage, ideally this should become a public policy for the next three to four years.
'I believe, for example, that what we launch this year could be installed next year. If everyone does their job properly, I think that within a year we could have batteries installed alongside photovoltaic panels and integrated into photovoltaic systems. They should already be in place next year," she said.
'We have also moved away from the first come, first served' system to a system for evaluating applications. This means that, with a budget of 400 million lei that we currently have for this programme, for example, we will have many more batteries installed, simply because co-financing will also be one of the main criteria,' Diana Buzoianu explained.
She added that, with the limited resources available to the Ministry of Environment, it had managed 'to stimulate the market so that as many batteries as possible are installed with the same amount of money'.
'I think that should actually be the vision for the coming years as well. So, from the Ministry of Environment's perspective, when it comes to prices, I believe this is a programme that can help,' Buzoianu stressed.
Bursa newspaper is organising the 14th edition of the 'Energy in the Spotlight' conference on Monday.
Comentează