Adrem: Go the extra mile!
Several turning point moments defined the evolution of Adrem in the past 15 years, says Corneliu Bodea, CEO of the company.
“The most notable one is the insourcing of meter reading, meter management and maintenance activities from CEZ in 2009 and 2010 and the following development of services activities in Adrem” he tells The Diplomat – Bucharest. “It now accounts for more than 1,000 employees, more than 60 percent of our turnover and addresses all DSO in Romania: CEZ, E.ON, Enel and Electrica, both electric and gas.”
During this year and the following one, ADREM will continue to be involved in major projects, especially in the gas transportation (BRUA – SCADA) and energy distribution infrastructure (SCADA Electrica Transylvania South) for complex automation solutions, according to Bodea.
“Besides, our efforts in energy efficiency direction magnify by becoming one of the authorized installer of photovoltaic systems for individuals, within the “Green House” program, launched by the Environmental Fund Authority (AFM),” Bodea explains. “Simultaneously, we have signed contracts for periods of 4 and 8 years for the services provision such as management of electricity meter groups and electric infrastructure maintenance with the main energy distributors from Romania – CEZ, Electric, Enel and E.ON.”
Adrem is increasingly focused on B2C projects, being one of the main direction of the company for next year. “We adopted a diversification strategy aimed at developing services and products both energy-intensive users, such as municipalities, industrial and retail consumers, as well as consumers in the residential sector and small-sized office buildings,” says Bodea.
He explains that innovation is the DNA of Adrem: “We have already a several projects based on automation and energy efficiency where we use the most advanced technologies to implement them. Thus, our involvement in smart grid systems and applications IoT and further digitalization solutions for energy infrastructure are our focus.”
The biggest challenges for Adrem are to keep up with the hi-tech trends, to find professionals with a strong scientific and technical knowledge, such as programmers, electrical experts, engineers, and continuously develop them. Last, but not least are the investments overall, in human resource development, in projects, researches and equipment.
Bodea states that one of the main strategic objective for Adrem is to invest more in people and their training, to involve in our community by implementing projects for students and entrepreneurs, and provide state-of-the-art solutions for our clients.
“A vision and a project for all Romanians”
“After several years of lack of competence and strategic decisions, I am sure that a new generation of leaders will take a stand and further transform Romania into what it deserves,” says Bodea. “We need to build a vision and a project that all Romanians will embrace, where everybody will feel part of and where we can bring up our creativity, fun and entrepreneurial skills.”
He adds that, in the energy infrastructure, the following 2-3 years are critical for determining whether Romania will stay and develop as a supplier of energy security and resilience for the region or will be downgraded at a level of an energy consumer and beneficial of other countries better energy capacities.
2020 is a very important year as many strategic projects have to develop and be finalized (BRUA, Gas and Electricity interconnections), as Bodea underlines.
In addition, other projects have to find their way and he only mentions Black Sea gas production, many electricity generation projects as Cernavoda reactors 3 and 4, new gas generation and renewable (wind and solar).
“As we are in a new EU framework referred to renewables targets towards 2030 and new energy market rules, Romania will have to move fast into a more flexible T&D infrastructure, new energy generation capacities and concept of using the capacity and last but not least into a more efficient and smart way of consuming the energy,” he continues. “The question of protecting vulnerable consumers it is also a key target which have to be addressed immediately. Romania is confronting in 2020 the big challenge of deciding how to make use in a smart way of its generous resources. I can only hope that the new government will take the clever route of making use of the already done studies and conclusions of the National Energy Strategy and involve all actors into deciding the way to continue.”
“Go the extra mile day by day and month by month”
A new year is coming soon and new plans are taking shape, so Bodea’s advice would be: “Go the extra mile. In my 27 years of practice, I have learned that to go beyond your limits is the key to success. Nowadays, I believe the extra mile become a culture that should be impregnated as an attitude or value in each company. I know it is a tedious process, but I am sure if every each of us goes extra mile day by day and month by month, the coming plans will not appear so distressing and the goals will be reached and exceeded more easily.”
(From the print edition)