Storage is one of the solutions we need to work on more intensively, but as long as the European Union does not find a solution to reduce electricity costs, it will be difficult for us to have an area where prices are significantly lower, Secretary of State with the Energy Ministry Cristian Busoi said on Monday at the "Energy in the Plug" conference.
"Indeed, storage is one of the solutions we need to work on more intensively, to boost projects for installing standalone storage capacity, as well as storage attached to existing electricity generation capacity, mainly in the solar sector. Here, we are working in coordination with other ministries. The Energy Ministry launched a call for projects at the beginning of September to co-finance standalone storage capacity (...) The call has already closed, some time ago, but unfortunately the assessment and contracting process has been extended. We are talking about 'behind-the-meter' storage. In addition to what the Environment Ministry is doing, we are cooperating and coordinating with the AFIR [Agency for Financing of Rural Investments] to jointly manage the self-consumption and storage scheme for those who already have solar capacity, mainly local councils, as well as integrated projects, storage, production plus storage, for public institutions and other administrative-territorial units. Therefore, things are moving forward in this direction and the ANRE [National Energy Regulatory Authority] has also taken steps to accelerate procedures," Busoi said.
In the official's view, there is an ongoing debate and reflection process on how the guarantee for standalone equipment and capacity should be amended.
"Returning to the 'big picture', if we look at the European Union today, prices on the day-ahead markets are fairly similar, with the exception of the Iberian Peninsula, but that is a subject we do not have time to develop now (...) As long as the European Union does not find a sustainable solution to reduce electricity prices and electricity costs, it will certainly be difficult for us to have an area where prices are significantly lower. A fundamental law of economics says that if supply increases relative to demand, prices should fall. And here again we are talking at the European Union level. That is why continuing to invest in production capacity is the right thing to do. Obviously, we need to find the right balance. We cannot ask investors to make investments while we have no consumption (...) We are all waiting for major Data Centre and AI Centre investments to come to this area as well. We expect the need for electricity for these processes to grow increasingly in the years and decades ahead. And so, I believe that investments in production are safe investments. Some will happen immediately," the official explained.
The Energy Ministry representative also mentioned that the National Energy System is resilient and that the team at the National Energy Dispatch Centre is very good.
The "Bursa" newspaper is organising the 14th edition of the "Energy in the Plug" conference on Monday.
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