Ondrej Safar, CEZ Romania: “Everyone wants to be a prosumer, but our networks weren’t built for everyone to be a prosumer”

“We must think about what the future will look like. We are in a great process of energy transition, and no one knows exactly what it will look like. Whatever we spend now, whatever we invest now, will be seen in the future. In distribution we need to invest in new transformers, which have a lifespan of 30-50 years. We need to know where we are going, to know what we will invest in today, what will be the role of the distribution network in 2050, what will be the role of the consumer in 2050, what will the transport system look like,” Ondrej Safar, Country Manager, CEZ Romania said during Energy CEO Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“As a network operator, we invest in the network with a view of 10-20 years into the future. What we invest, we invest for the clients, not for us, and in the end, through the tariff, the client is the one who pays. And he has to pay for something that will be useful to him in the future.

We, as a distribution network, must discuss how much renewable energy will be built, where, what will be the role of large renewable energy, what will be the role of small renewable energy, of the prosumers, because this is a major interest. Everyone wants to be a prosumer, but our networks weren’t built for everyone to be a prosumer.

When we build the network, we have a group of houses and each house has a certain capacity to connect. This capacity is thought in the perspective that a consumer will have a certain maximum consumption, but not for the situation where all consumers will consume at the maximum at the same time. The network is built on the principle that not all consumers consume at the maximum at the same time, so the transformers have a certain capacity. But if everyone builds a PV capacity that is equal to the maximum power of their connection – they paid for it, they have the right to use it – everyone will produce and produce to the maximum. But the network wasn’t built for that. These are the challenges we will have.

In the first three months of 2023, we connected a number of prosumers approximately equal to that of the whole of last year, with no funds available for prosumers. There is a lot of money available for prosumers and we expect their numbers to grow even more.”