“Digitization, research and innovation should be top priorities for the energy sector”

CEZ Group in Romania invested over 43 million Euro for developing the grid in 2021 and in projects benefiting the local community.

“We became even more prepared for even bigger challenges. The daily routine, the operational model, the decision-making processes were adapted and remained functional and supported us in our critical role of energy supplier, distributor, and producer. Plus, we confirmed some important lessons like how essential is to have a capable team that finds solutions to any challenge,” Ondrej Safar, Country Manager, CEZ Group Romania told The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“The energy market will go through a significant change, even a revolution, driven by the sector’s aim for zero emissions and the need for distribution networks to become digital with real-time management. I think digitization, research and innovation should be top priorities for the energy sector.”

COMMITMENT TO PERFORMANCE | BUSINESS EVOLUTION, PROJECTS, PERFORMANCE, FIGURES

How would you describe the evolution of your company in 2021?

“We became even more prepared for even bigger challenges. The daily routine, the operational model, the decision-making processes were adapted and remained functional and supported us in our critical role of energy supplier, distributor and producer. Plus, we confirmed some important lessons like how essential is to have a capable team that finds solutions to any challenge.

We launched an original energy offer, derived from the way COVID-19 changed our lives and the overall economy – CEZ Confort Asigurat (that takes over the energy invoice payments for 6 months in case of layoffs and/ or offers additional insurance services), weconcluded one of the largest divestment processes in the country and attracted one major investor world-wide, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, we received an innovation patent for a technical solution that can improve by up to 4% the annual green energy production of a wind turbine (issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and we are ending the year with the highest number of prosumers in the country,connected to the distributiongridin Oltenia (11.66 MW capacity).

We also continued investments in the grid (over 43 million Euro euro) and in projects benefiting the local community.”

STRATEGY & VISION | RETHINK STRATEGY & PRIORITIES

“The uncertainties and a high degree of volatility of the energy sector raised the biggest challenges for everyone. For me and my company it was a smoother sail than it might have been due to the digital transformation we have embarked in, that gave us a solid foundation to build upon.

I  am also a strong believer that solutions to any type of challenge come from finding the most suitable perspectives that will help us turn them into opportunities and sustainable development.

We plan to catalyze the energy for the future. Our aim is to act as enablers of the sector’s transformation. We will continue the process of digitization at Group level.

The distribution operator will continue to carry out important investments in the electricity grid, access European & Norwegian funds, implement smart metering projects, create platforms dedicated to consumers to provide them access to information and quality services (short connection time network, maintaining the quality of distributed energy, implementing integrated Smart Grid Connect systems and more).

The energy and gas supplier CEZ Vanzare will remain close to its customers and involved in initiatives that promote energy efficiency and help decrease energy poverty/ the vulnerable consumers.

From the renewable part of our operations, we are committed to increase the capacity of current assets. Two important strategy pillars for us in 2022 are to maintain the safety of our employees and to keep up spreading the #energythatcomesfrompeople in the local community via traditional and new CSR projects (Oltenia Marathon, Electrician Apprentice, Generators of Wellbeing, Energy Shelter and so on and so forth). 

CEZ will continue to advocate for an integrated energy system where consumers and investors should be able to choose the option that best matches their needs, based on prices that reflect the true cost and efficiency, a system that should ensure equal treatment for all energy carriers, making electricity and gas markets fit for decarbonization.”

PEOPLE & COMMUNITY | FOCUS ON SAFETY, SOCIAL APPROACH, LEVERAGE THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

We kept all our traditional CSR projects for the benefit of the local community and developed new ones, meant to cover important and recurrent needs in the community.

This year’s edition of Oltenia Marathon concluded in more than 20000 euro donated to 3 social causes (support for the Nest Foundation, the Ramnicu Valcea Emergency Hospital – Neonatology Section and the program I want in the 9th grade implemented by the World Vision Foundation. The Generators of Wellbeing (an internal project challenge for CEZ employees) meant 40000 euros and 8 dedicated projects in our traditional area. Code Kids is another project we continue to support and get involved in for the benefit of children from rural areas who learn coding (more than 75000 euros invested so far).

Plus, we continued our project concerning the lack of professionals and the degree of retirement in the energy sector via the distribution operator’s Electrician Apprentice project, developed since 2016 in all DEO’s 7 counties, where we built state-of art electrical laboratories and tailored benefits for future electricians (scholarships, self-development training, dedicated technical competitions, digital tools for the online schools, regular practice sessions in our installations, the Practice Club, etc). Distributie Oltenia has invested more than 300,000 euros in the Electrician Apprentice project so far, has roughly 300 students subscribed in the current school year (of which 32 are girls) with 440 scholarships offered in 2020 – 2021, 43 interns (Junior Electricians) who benefited so far from paid internships during 2019 – 2020 and 16 young electricians employed with the company or at our partners during or after the internship. In addition, DEO equipped the 7 Electrician Apprentice partner high schools with photovoltaic panel plants worth approximately 15000 euros per high school.

The list continues with dedicated 8 March (Deeds get rooted or 10,000 sqm of forest being planted in one of the most desertified region in Constanta County), Easter (the latest campaign, Festival of local kindness, challenged our partners to join us in donating 10 – 3D printers to kids from the Code Kids program or choose a small token of appreciation for our collaborators, gifts acquired from local business) and Christmas (A kind gesture is not too expensive – campaign through which 13800 hot meals were donated to the poor and elderly) campaigns, as well as the celebration of the Volunteering Day which has become another tradition for us (the most recent action was the funding campaign “Each child counts” through which a 10000 euro modern incubator was donated to the Neonatology Section of Drobeta Turnu Severin Emergency Hospital).

KEEN ON GREEN | SUSTAINABLE, GREENER, COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTALLY-FOCUS

“We have a strong interest in green-driven initiatives and sustainability. We gather our non-financial and sustainable efforts in our Sustainability reports that use as a reference the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G 4 Guidelines reporting framework, Core Option.

Among our green initiatives, the latest would be CEZ Vanzare’s Shelter with Energy initiative, implemented in partnership with the CSR Nest Association, in which 15 homes were equipped with modern household appliances by the Vasiliada Association Targu Jiu Branch, the NGO that won the 39000 lei grant. Through the “Energy Shelter” competition, we also supported the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7, “Clean and Affordable Energy”, through which we open new horizons towards smart solutions and alternative energy means.

Also, throughout the European project SocialWatt (that aims to implement specific measures for energy efficiency and combating energy poverty targeting energy consumers in this situation), CEZ Vanzare carried out the following campaigns:

– between October and December 2020: information campaign on energy efficiency that offered customers the opportunity to find out the “color of their homes” depending on their energy efficiency, by accessing the platform Efficiency Portal on www.cezinfo.ro. Clients were invited to complete the questionnaire “What color is your house?” and download the E-book with practical tips to help them get a permanently efficient home.

– in 2021, the supplier launched the Energiada campaign, challenging the public to become Olympic in energy. The campaign included a series of concrete actions, meant to contribute to increasing the level of information of the public and to the adoption of an energy efficient behavior:

presentation of 10 practical measures to reduce consumption and, implicitly, to reduce costs on energy and gas bills -> Energy efficiency manual for #Home

sharing 5 inspirational stories of successful Romanians (Sebastian Dobrincu, Shurubel, comedian and radio host, Cristina Andrei, food blogger, Adrian Samson, representative / organizer Neversea and Diana Bulimar, gymnast – launch September 2021), who recorded performances not only in their field of activity, but also in energy.

providing fast, unlimited and free access to the most useful and relevant sources of information -> Efficiency Portal

supporting customers through personalized products and services, which ensure optimal energy consumption -> www.cezinfo.ro

Following the study conducted by CEZ Vanzare in 2020, based on a calculation tool provided by SocialWatt, in which 1120 localities in the Oltenia area were analyzed, 5 localities with a high degree of energy poverty were identified (Craiova, Targu Jiu, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Pitesti and Ramnicu Valcea).

Our future plans are also green oriented in our operational area where we already installed photovoltaic pannels in 2 of our transformation stations with more to follow for Distributie Oltenia as well as for TMK Hydroenergy Power where we plan to install photovoltaic pannels on the shine of the water of the lakes in our hydroenergy complex.”

DIGITAL DNA | GRASPING TECH, DIGITAL INNOVATION, CUSTOMER -DRIVEN, BUILDING NEW BRIDGES

“Within Distributie Oltenia, we will are constantly striving to attract European funds for our initiatives.

We have 10 projects cumulating 73 million euro submitted to EU funds opportunities for new projects with positive impact in network modernization and development, out of which 21,4 million euro, own contribution, that is  approximately 29,3 %. Our next steps include 7 project proposals totaling 64 mio euro, submitted by Distributie Oltenia for modernization purposes, the implementation of cohesion policy between 2021 – 2027 with a list of project proposals of approximately 514,5 mio euro, *35 projects on PODD program – estimated at 200 mio euro and **15 projects on POTJ program – estimated at 314,5 million euro.

In addition, we remain interested in attracting Norwegian Grants Financial Mechanism 2014 – 2021 and are currently  preparing a grant application offered by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norwegian financial mechanisms 2014-2021, for the installation of photovoltaic panels in 2 transformer stations of Distributie Oltenia, in Gorj county.

Many of the projects we invest in and implement are aimed at developing new innovative ways in which we can increase the quality of our business. Among such projects, we can mention: MDM + MDC (Meter Data Management System), GIS, ADMS, Digital DEO project, E-Analytics, many of them being financed or co-financed from European funds.

In fact, we have started to use more and more digital tools, robots to help us streamline the activity, but also digital equipment, such as drones, video cameras, sensors, etc., which help considerably to ease the staff’s activity.

Our strategy includes also a close cooperation with the local public administrations. Together with them, we implement solutions that reduce the waiting time of final consumers in their relationship with us.The most recent success in digitization projects, with an investment of approximately 4 million euros is the completion of the digital map of Distribuție Oltenia’s low voltage distribution network, or the GIS project – https://bit.ly/3mM0slV. GIS provides all those interested with up-to-date and detailed information about the location and nature of the electrical networks, the benefits of consumers, public authorities and builders being immediate and direct: informed decisions on land acquisition or construction, reduced time for issuing approvals by the authorities, reduced effort to identify the characteristics of a site, etc.”

What trends do you anticipate for 2022?

“The energy market will go through a significant change, even a revolution, driven by the sector’s aim for zero emissions and the need for distribution networks to become digital with real-time management.

I think digitization, research and innovation should be at the top of the priority for the energy sector. Also, as Fit for 55 and the decarbonization plan are valid for all European countries, investments and an attractive investment framework are needed. It is very important to prepare the networks for this change. Starting from existing capacities and to the transmission network and distribution network that need to accumulate and absorb new capacities. It will take the implementation of many systems that can operate the system and manage the flow of energy in real time, something that is very different from what is being done now at country level.

Our aim is to catalyze this change. CEZ takes seriously all these aspects and has already made important steps towards digitization, innovation, helping consumers that face energy poverty, building a better equipped distribution grid able to take on prosumers and always searching for better ways/ projects on behalf of the local community.”

2021 IN 3 KEY WORDS

“Volatile (from an energy and regulatory framework), challenging and transforming”

2022 IN 3 KEY WORDS OR MORE

“I think 2022 is another occasion for us to think outside the box, to keep on nourishing the know-how we build with our team and continue aiming for new and better solutions for our customers.

In terms of the business environment, in general, it will be important to be able to keep our inspiration and motivation to find answers to all the changes that will come.

In terms of hope, I hope for stability in the energy sector: COVID related and, consequently, throughout the supply chain leading, eventually, to the stability of  the energy prices, a stronger focus on the concept of energy poverty and the solutions to it, while energy efficiency and efficient consumptions are strong pillars to be intensely promoted.”

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