Commentary

Transformarea industriei: o necesitate presantă În contextul geopolitic și economic actual, politicile industriale din Uniunea Europeană sunt esențiale pentru a asigura securitatea, prosperitatea și atenuarea schimbărilor climatice. Un nou val de politici și scheme de suport, axate pe transformarea sustenabilă a industriilor statelor membre, reflectă o reorientare a gândirii strategice atât la nivel european cât și național. Astfel, mult-așteptatul raport al lui Mario Draghi a propus o abordare duală a problematicii tranziției industriale axată pe obiectivele de decarbonizare și competitivitate, două dimensiuni strâns întrepătrunse, care trebuie abordate concomitent. În acest sens, este nevoie de un mix de politici și stimulente economice care să permită operatorilor industriali, mai ales din industriile energo-intensive, să se transforme și să poată concura pe piețele europene și globale, cu o expunere cât mai redusă la vulnerabilități pe lanțul de producție. Aceste semnale au fost preluate de către decidenții din România, rezultând în noi angajamente de susținere și finanțare a marii industrii.Deși binevenite, mecanismele propuse abordează doar parțial provocările de competitivitate ale industriei românești și cel mai probabil, în forma actuală nu vor reuși să prevină decalajul României față de alte state europene. Cum susține România transformarea industriei sale? Istoricul schemelor de suport pentru industria grea din România reflecta, până recent, o abordare monolitică și prea puțin mulată pe complexitățile tehnologice, comerciale, și sociale ale tranziției industriale. Din 2010 și până în prezent, schemele de ajutor de stat destinate industriei au vizat în principal reducerea costurilor indirecte de emisii și a costurilor de energie, fără a stimula în mod eficient transformarea industrială. Pentru a susține continuarea activității industriale pe termen mediu și lung, ajutoarele de stat ar trebui condiționate de cerințe de reducere a emisiilor dar și țintite către noi tehnologii și procese de producție industrială. Asemenea scheme de suport trebuie lansate urgent, având în vedere calendarul de eliminare a alocărilor gratuite de certificate de emisii pentru industria energo-intensivă, conform reviziei Directivei EU ETS. Din 2034, aceste sectoare industriale vor plăti integral pentru emisiile generate.   În septembrie 2024, Guvernul a lansat prima schemă amplă de ajutor de stat destinată tranziției industriei românești, ca parte a “Planului Național pentru Marea Industrie”. Schema de ajutor, în valoare de 1 miliard de euro, este destinată investițiilor în măsuri de reducere a emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră, și va acorda un sprijin de până la 100 de milioane de euro per beneficiar. Anunțul schemei vine la puțin timp după lansarea în consultare publică a Programului-Cheie 7 din Fondul de Modernizare, de asemenea destinat susținerii operatorilor industriali prin finanțarea investițiilor de modernizare și eficientizare energetică a instalațiilor. Bugetul total al programului este de 150 de milioane de euro, cu sprijin maxim de 30 de milioane de euro per beneficiar. Deși schemele reprezintă un semnal binevenit din partea decidenților români, acestea nu vor reuși să stimuleze transformarea profundă a industriei grele, dacă nu sunt bine calibrate la magnitudinea acestei transformări. Măsurile de sprijin ar trebui țintite către proiecte de impact în sectoarele cele mai vulnerabile în procesul de tranziție și care prezintă un avantaj competitiv. Schemele de ajutor de stat ar trebui să fie dimensionate proporțional cu efortul financiar necesar pentru transformare și suficient de flexibile pentru a absorbi volatilitatea costurilor pe termen lung asociate transformării, inclusiv prețul carbonului din piața EU ETS. În caz contrar, Planul Național pentru Marea Industrie riscă să cheltuiască în mod ineficient resursele publice, scăzând totodată șansele industriei românești de a ține pasul cu competitori din alte țări europene. Luciana Miu, EPG Head of Clean Economy Luciana Miu is the Head of Clean Economy at Energy Policy Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings from the Imperial College London. Before joining EPG, Luciana worked for the UK Parliament and for the British Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as a consultant for Climate-KIC and London City Hall. She is passionate about volunteer work, being one of the founding members of European Youth Energy Network and a professional speaker for conferences dedicated to the role of youth in energy transition. Contact: luciana.miu@enpg.ro

Pe fondul unor temperaturi caniculare extreme, sistemul energetic național a întâmpinat dificultăți în satisfacerea cererii de consum la orele de vârf în ultimele săptămâni. Contrar unor opinii vehiculate în spațiul public, această situație critică nu a fost cauzată de adoptarea unui calendar de eliminare a capacităților pe bază de cărbune. De fapt, centralele pe bază de combustibili fosili au produs semnificativ sub capacitățile instalate teoretic disponibile în sistem, necesarul fiind acoperit prin creșterea importurilor. Pentru evitarea unor situații similare în viitor, este necesară accelerarea investițiilor în rețelele de distribuție și transport, creșterea capacităților de producție de energie cât mai curată, și a sistemelor de stocare, precum și dezvoltarea suplimentară a capacităților de interconectare cu alte state. Alexandru Ciocan, EPG Researcher, Energy Systems Team Alexandru Ciocan este cercetător la Energy Policy Group și a lucrat intens timp de aproape 10 ani în domeniul tehnologiilor bazate pe hidrogen, surse de energie regenerabilă și baterii litiu-ion. Deține un doctorat în științe inginerești de la IMT Atlantique, precum și de la Universitatea Politehnica din București. Contact: alexandru.ciocan@enpg.ro

Independent scientific advisory bodies are consultative organisations composed of various experts with the role of advising governments on climate policy and monitoring progress towards reaching climate targets. Their overarching role includes identifying the shortcomings in climate policy and offering scientific advice to improve it. Climate policy would thus be enhanced by linking the latest scientific evidence to policymaking and filling the gap left by the lack of institutional capacity and in-house expertise of the government. Through this influx of expertise, Romania could also gain more ownership over its climate policies, by enabling domestic debate and initiative, rather than merely transposing EU legislation. Ana-Maria Niculicea, EPG Researcher, Clean Economy Team Ana-Maria Niculicea is a Researcher at Energy Policy Group focusing on aspects relating to climate governance and the social acceptance of the transition. She holds a MSc in Politics, Economics and Philosophy from University of Hamburg and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from National University of Political Studies and Public Administration.  Contact: ana.niculicea@enpg.ro

Regulamentul privind industria net-zero (NZIA), adoptat la sfârșitul lunii mai, marchează o nouă abordare a politicii industriale în Uniunea Europeană. Noul regulament vine ca răspuns la o îngrijorare crescândă că industria Uniunii își va pierde competitivitatea într-o lume cu emisii reduse de dioxid de carbon (CO2). Fiind încă dependentă de industria grea, dar având și un mare potențial de a dezvolta noi industrii născute din nevoia de decarbonizare, România ar trebui să privească NZIA ca pe o șansă de a deveni un jucător în industria cu emisii reduse de dioxid de carbon, precum și de a depăși barierele instituționale care împiedică de prea mult timp această dezvoltare. Potențialul românesc acoperă un număr de industrii-cheie, cum ar fi energia regenerabilă, producția de hidrogen verde și captarea și stocarea carbonului (CCS), unde dispozițiile NZIA privind accelerarea proceselor de autorizare pot stimula semnificativ investițiile. Luciana Miu, EPG Head of Clean Economy Luciana Miu is the Head of Clean Economy at Energy Policy Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings from the Imperial College London. Before joining EPG, Luciana worked for the UK Parliament and for the British Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as a consultant for Climate-KIC and London City Hall. Contact: luciana.miu@enpg.ro

It is difficult to overstate the urgency and magnitude of Romania’s industrial transformation. Heavy industry sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals employ thousands of workers and are key contributors to the national economy. But their conventional, carbon-intensive processes are becoming increasingly obsolete in a world rapidly moving towards sustainable forms of production, as the competitive edge in industry slowly shifts from cheap to green. Transforming these processes is a sizeable challenge, but also an opportunity of significant proportions. By 2034, Romania’s steel, cement, and chemicals manufacturers, all sectors deemed to be at risk of carbon leakage, will no longer benefit from exemptions from paying for their emissions. In today’s carbon prices, this could mean costs of €60 million per year just for emissions for a plant producing 1 million tonnes (Mt) of cement; close to double if EU carbon prices rise as predicted by some models. There is one decade left for Romania’s heavy industry to slash its emissions in order to continue operating and competing. This is just about enough time to assess feasibility, make an investment decision, secure new equipment and technologies from an increasingly oversubscribed market, install, test, and phase in these new technologies and processes, and reskill the workforce. All this under the optimistic assumption that Romania’s existing infrastructure is fit for purpose, new infrastructure has been deployed to the required scale, and state support is forthcoming to leverage the massive required investments. Luciana Miu, EPG Head of Clean Economy Luciana Miu is the Head of Clean Economy at Energy Policy Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings from the Imperial College London. Before joining EPG, Luciana worked for the UK Parliament and for the British Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as a consultant for Climate-KIC and London City Hall. Contact: luciana.miu@enpg.ro

În 2024 România ar trebui să își regândească modelul de dezvoltare economică printr-o reorientare către tehnologiile viitorului și tranziția către o economie cu emisii reduse de gaze cu efect de seră. Pentru aceasta este necesară renunțarea la apatia clasei politice și la căutarea soluțiilor în trecut și reorientarea priorităților naționale către o economie bazată pe utilizarea surselor de energie curată, dezvoltarea infrastructurii energetice, atragerea lanțurilor valorice pentru tehnologiile verzi și susținerea capacității de cercetare și inovare pentru crearea de locuri de muncă bine plătite, care să poată răspunde provocărilor următoarelor decenii. Mihnea Cătuți, EPG Head of Research Mihnea is the Head of Research at EPG, coordinating the research strategy and activities within the organisation. His expertise includes EU climate and energy policy and the transition in South-East Europe.He is also an Associate in E3G’s Clean Economy Programme, contributing to the work on industrial decarbonisation. In the past, Mihnea was an associate researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), where he led the work on the future of hydrogen in the EU. He was also an associate lecturer in Public Policy at the University of York. Mihnea has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bristol and a Masters in European Public Policy from the University of York and the Central European University. He is currently finalising his PhD at the University of York focusing on energy and climate governance in the EU. Contact: mihnea.catuti@enpg.ro

Spre deosebire de emisiile operaționale de carbon, care țin de consumul de energie în clădire și care fac obiectul măsurilor de creștere a eficienței energetice, emisiile încorporate ale clădirii sunt cele care țin de materialele de construcții și de activitățile de construcție, precum și de tratamentul la finalul duratei de utilizare. De aceea, contribuția sectorului clădirilor – care, în UE, reprezintă mai bine de 40% din consumul total final de energie – la realizarea unei traiectorii de neutralitate climatică până în 2050 nu poate fi realizată fără controlul și reducerea emisiilor încorporate de carbon.

Deși capacitățile de producție industrială s-au micșorat semnificativ în ultimele 3 decenii, acestea păstrează o contribuție de 16.5% la valoarea adăugată brută națională, și asigură aproximativ o cincime din forța de muncă activă din România. Având în vedere această importanță economică strategică, producătorii de oțel, ciment, chimicale și produse petroliere trebuie să se adapteze rapid la noua realitate a industriei europene, marcată de constrângeri în privința emisiilor de gaze cu efect de seră.

From the second half of March to June 2023, four rounds of revisions have been submitted for the Electricity Market Design during the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, bringing useful clarifications. The present analysis also reflects the main elements of the Presidency’s compromise proposal.

Within this new reality and the ensuing global crisis, COP27 was seen by some as an “oasis of diplomacy”, to quote US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm – a space where countries could come together to act on the global challenge that is climate change. But while countries did come together in some landmark agreements, they left Sharm-el-Sheikh without much progress on actual action to mitigate climate change.

The concept of circular economy (CE) has become one of the most important pillars of climate change mitigation efforts as its implementation seeks to decouple economic growth from resource use.

The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) is an essential instrument for achieving the energy and climate objectives of the European Union (EU). The recast EED aims to align its provisions – since many of them require increased ambition and enhancement of their scope – with the target of 55% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.

Fondul pentru Modernizare (FM) este cel mai important instrument financiar european destinat susținerii tranziției energetice în țările Europei Centrale și de Est până în 2030.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a heavily debated legislative proposal for a carbon tax on EU imports from five key sectors (aluminium, cement, fertilizer, iron and steel, and electricity). [1],[2] It has been proposed as part of the Fit for 55 package, with the purpose of preventing carbon leakage (the relocation of carbon-intensive production of tradable goods away from the EU, to avoid carbon costs).

The current version of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) is deemed outdated and misaligned with the EU agenda of promoting renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction. The European Commission’s ETD proposal is a unique opportunity to address some of the missing pieces of the current framework and sets the ground for encouraging the roll out of new, sustainable technologies and products by: building the tax rates based on the energy content and environmental impact, widening the taxation base, by including energy sectors that are not in the scope of the current ETD (aviation, shipping), developing mechanisms to incentivize new energy carriers and technologies, such as hydrogen and storage.

The current Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) is being amended, as part of a broader overhaul of EU climate and energy legislation, to update the target and the legislation for delivering at least a 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. The European Commission’s RED revision is the key EU legislative instrument for promoting the uptake of renewable energy sources and lays the foundation for higher RES targets at EU level and in every member state, mainstreaming renewables in buildings, H&C, industry, and transport.

The sudden interest for hydrogen in Romania is lacking though a robust foundation in policy analysis and planning, having been fueled almost entirely by the momentum that the topic has received at EU and international levels.

Although sanctioned in the press as a populist and anti-economic measure, the draft law on deferral of payment to utilities for three months, is based on a correct idea of social protection.

The global oil industry will continue to be battered by the constraints of climate policies, divestment and lowering returns. True, a depressed oil price environment disincentivizes investment in renewable energy sources, electromobility and, alas, energy efficiency – a lesson well learned in the aftermath of the 2014 oil industry downturn.

The fundamental market drivers are pointing at a balanced oil market in 2020, with a Brent price mostly within the $60-70 a barrel – unless, that is, a massive escalation of the geopolitical tensions occurs, following the targeted killing of Iranian general Soleimani, causing large and indeterminate oil supply disruption.

The analysis carried out in this report shows that the manner in which the NECP draft accommodates the net increases in electricity generation capacity by 2030 for virtually all forms of primary energy – except for the natural gas units, whose aggregate capacity stagnates, and of coal, for which an implausibly low decrease is expected – is to rely on a massive increase in final energy consumption to 341 TWh in 2030 compared to 269 TWh in the PRIMES 2016 projection, and 300 TWh in the Romanian Energy Strategy 2019-2030, with an Outlook to 2050

How could Romania capitalize on such consistent evidence about how energy efficiency can actually work to the benefit of a state and its energy stakeholders?

In Romania, the National Energy Regulation Agency (ANRE) has so far approved 36 SM pilot projects in 2015 and 2016 for all eight distribution areas, targeting approximately 270.000 points of delivery out of a total of 7.18 million, which means less than 4% of the population.

This paper traces the history of how states came to cooperate in the development of offshore cross-border oil or gas deposits. First, it explains the shift in how a state´s offshore has come to be viewed from “open to all” to sovereign rights over an exclusive economic zone and finally to cooperation in the interest of all parties concerned. Secondly, it discusses the types of agreements states signed and the problems these agreements solve.

Some say statistics lie and this is sometimes true. However, oftentimes statistical figures are so striking that underlying facts become obvious. At the European level, the irrigation systems differ a lot by technology, but also in terms of irrigable and irrigated areas. According to 2013 data provided by Eurostat, there are important discrepancies between member states.

Natural gas is the most important form of energy in Romania’s the final consumption structure. In 2015, gas accounted for 29% of the total demand, followed by oil products with 26%, 19% renewable energy sources (RES (including hydro), 17% coal and 9% nuclear energy. Gas consumption is almost equally divided between the domestic and industrial sectors – in the latter gas is used primarily in the production of electricity and as raw material in petro chemistry.

Important market players already bet that days with oversupply of crude oil will soon to be outdated and that the market will return to balance – and therefore back in the situation backwards.

Plummeting oil prices and fallen revenues triggered a chain reaction in Turkmenistan, which has a current account deficit of about $6 bn. Ashgabat devalued the currency by 19%. There have been reports of massive food shortages and unpaid wages.

Given that Romania is quickly moving towards the completion of a centralized natural gas trading market – including through the elimination, from April 2017, of the predetermined price for the internal production of natural gas – it is necessary to make use of the current mechanisms and specific regulations, and to introduce new ones, to limit the effects of possible massive price volatility caused by speculative behavior

The Energy Ministry posted on December 19 the Energy Strategy of Romania 2016-2030, with an Outlook to 2050. It has been a long-awaited document, on which stakeholders have for years pinned hopes about favored energy policies and from which decision-makers, public and private, expect guidance in the coming years.

Romania’s capacity auction is a significant step in regional gas market opening. At the end of July 2016, Transgaz has signed gasinterconnection agreements with its Bulgarian and Ukrainian counterparts in order to increase interconnectivity and allow bidirectional flow from Ukraine to Greece.

The introduction of the additional tax must be fair, proportionate, reasonable, fair, and the level of taxation must be determined according to objective, rational financial criteria corresponding to the taxpayer contribution (according to the Romanian Counstitutional Court practice)

In Romania, a number of industrial sectors that serve the public interest are strictly regulated – natural gas, railroad or electricity systems, to name a few. As such, for the local energy sector, and particularly for electricity, the transmission and distribution services are regulated as “natural monopolies”

During the evolution of the Romanian oil industry, the refining sector emerged at the end of the 19th century by way of a massive import of foreign capital and advanced technology. In 1895 the construction of Steaua Română refinery started in Câmpina, one of the largest in Europe of that time, with capital of Deutsche Bank.

The creation of a regional balancing market calls into question the commercial viability of the classical electricity generation capacities which ensure, at the national level, this service.

Nobody can deny the sovereign right of states to charge taxes on any activity including petroleum activities. It is of utmost importance when, why and namely how such fiscal measures are established.

Our case study of worst practices involves two-state owned businesses, Hunedoara Energy Complex and Oltenia Energy Complex. They are both nearly insolvent, while the Government continues to pump money into their rescue, without, however, any real assurance that the effort will be worth it

Photovoltaic is a unique concept, if looked at how fast this technology has been growing. In the next decade, global demand could be significantly fueled by solar power. Today, just 0.5% of the electricity comes from photovoltaics worldwide. It may seem like a small number, but in 1998 this was 0.003% and if the trend continues, in 2028 it will grow to 50%. Therefore, by then half of the energy demand could come from solar-powered plants.

For Romania to increase its biogas production 50-fold, a step change is necessary, even if the level of support is sufficient to make most investments profitable.

The 2018 calendar was supposed to bring a 3% increase in household gas prices as of 1 October 2014, as a first step towards timely liberalization. In light of the burden that would have thus fallen on households ahead of presidential elections held in December, the Government, through its Department of Energy, requested this delay.

The Iaşi-Ungheni interconnector is a 43 km long pipeline meant to transport up to 1.5 bcm of gas per year from Romania to the Republic of Moldova, under the Prut River that constitutes the border between the two countries. Construction works only took one year, but they followed three years of talks between the two parties. Costs reached a total of €26.4m, most of which was covered by Brussels and Bucharest.

Compared to oil products, natural gas is clean burning, with virtually no particle and sulphur emissions, close to no NOx emissions, and lower CO2 emissions. Increasingly, it is also more affordable, despite higher logistics costs. Romania should follow the lead of many other countries around the world, and consider incentives for ship and truck owners to switch to natural gas.

Industrial competitiveness gains more and more traction across EU`s energy policy.

For the energy public debate in Romania, there are often two seemingly interchangeable terms – security and energy independence. The two concepts are different, however, and understanding the differences is very important

Romania's most important foreign energy policy project, the Nabucco gas pipeline, failed definitively in June 2013, when the competition for the transport of Azerbaijani gas to the EU in favour of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project.