Romania To Phase Out Coal From 15-20% In Energy Mix To 1% By 2026, Similar Moves To Announce At COP28: Energy Minister

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 05th Oct, 2023) Romania will phase out coal, which holds 15 to 20 percent of its current energy mix, to one percent in the next three years, by 2026, the eastern European country’s Energy Minister Sebastian-Ioan Burduja told the Emirates news Agency (WAM).

“We know that we need to decarbonise. As Dr. Sultan Al Jaber rightly said at ADIPEC, ‘We have the north star.’ The question is how we can do it faster, together. Romania has taken a leadership role in the region,” he said in an interview with WAM at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2023.

Burduja was referring to the statement of Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President-designate, who said, “the world must reduce emissions by at least 43 percent over the next 7 years to keep 1.5 within reach. And that is our north star. It is our destination.”

Burduja said the UAE is visionary leader in the word and it has the capital to finance innovation, which is crucial for green transformation.

“Congratulations to the leadership of this amazing nation for really playing a key role in how the world of tomorrow will look like.”

He pointed out that the UAE was the first country in the world to have a minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) back in 2017.

“What the Emirates does is the best in the world and looks ahead.”

The Romanian minister said his country and the UAE are working together in decarbonisation efforts and some important initiatives will be announced at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) to be held in Dubai in November.

“We are working a lot on green energy and COP 28 is a perfect setting to announce several key steps that we have taken together.

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Burduja explained that once Romania moves out of coal, to accelerate the green transition, “we will rely a lot on natural gas, and starting in January 2027, we will begin exploiting the Neptune deep perimeter, the largest supply of offshore gas in the Black Sea with over 100 billion cubic metres and that will make Romania the largest natural gas producer in Europe.”

By 2030-32, he said, Romania will have two additional nuclear large-scale reactors as well as the first SMR (small modular reactor) in Europe.

“Our most ambitious project is a High Voltage Direct Current cable [HVDC, an electric power transmission system using direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems].

He explained that this cable linking eastern and western Romania will minimise electricity leakages along the way, lower transportation costs, and help balance the grid. “Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) is a key partner in the project. We hope to launch the construction of the project within a year,” the minister added.

A big project between Masdar and Romanian national hydro company called Hidroelectrica aims to put up floating panels on lakes that serve current hydroelectric power plants, Burduja said. “It's very ambitious; we're looking at probably over one gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity on these lakes.”

There is an agreement between Romanian national gas company Transgaz that owns operate the gas distribution system, and ADNOC for potential deliveries of liquified natural gas (LNG), he noted.

“So, I would say there is a lot going on between Romania and the UAE. Energy is the most vibrant sector and there is so much to do,” Burduja said.