Valeriu Binig, Enel: “Romania’s energy sector lacks investments in generation capacity”

“In the previous decade we were trying to clarify which are the pillars of the EU’s energy policy and we were talking about security in energy supply, competitiveness, environmental protection (which has become sustainability). The new decade is characterized by the concepts that define the energy transition,” Valeriu Binig, Director, Regulatory and Antitrust, Enel said during the Energy CEO Forum 2021 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“We will try to debate some keywords you already know digitization, decarbonization, decentralization. Others are brought in by some players, such as urbanization. We will not talk much about electrification, because there are different views on decarbonisation at EU level. A first question for the participants in this forum would be: How do you see Romania’s energy security in the last decade and how do you see its evolution in the decade that has just begun and will be marked by this powerful transformation?

I ask this question because we are at a key moment when we found ourselves with a problem of the adequacy of the national energy sector due to the chronic lack of investment in generation capacity. We are also about to discuss access to Black Sea resources / reserves, with increasingly clear messages that if we do not act now, we will no longer need those gases. Thus, a decision is needed this year.

Given that we have an adequacy problem, we need to put new capabilities into operation quickly. The ones that can be put into operation the fastest are the renewable ones, but they have a variable production and a flexibility problem.”

The CEO Forum brings together the decision makers at the Governmental level and civil society and C-level business leaders in the energy sector. The Forum joins on the same stage senior figures, experts and the most knowns specialists in the field, to discuss some of the most pressing aspects of the industry today.

SPEAKERS  | CEO FORUM:

CORINA POPESCU, CEO Electrica

ERIC STAB, Chairman & CEO, ENGIE Romania

MIHAI DRAGHICI, Senior Manager, Business Advisory, EY

STEFAN GADOLA, Director General, EnergoBit

RAZVAN COPOIU, CEO Signify Romania

CORNELIU BODEA, CEO Adrem & President, Romanian Energy Center (CRE)

ONDREJ SAFAR, CEO CEZ Romania

VALERIU BINIG, Director, Regulatory and Antitrust, ENEL