Ondrej Safar, EVRYO: “We need to be brave enough to explain what are the costs of not doing the energy transition”

“The energy transition is very important to achieve net zero targets, but equally important is the energy security. Europe needs to be energy self-sufficient as much as possible or to have as many energy sources as possible and the renewable energy is giving us this opportunity.

We may be debating whether energy transition is happening or not, but distribution companies are having hundreds of requests from customers who want to become producers, regardless of policies or support schemes. These things are really happening. The energy transition is already happening.

It’s very important to have affordability, the competitiveness of the industry, but also, we have to keep in mind what are the costs of not doing anything, because those costs are significantly higher,” Ondrej Safar, CEO of EVRYO Group, said at Regional Energy Forum (FOREN 2024).

“The European industry is worried about their competitiveness compared to the rest of the world. If we are not doing the energy transition, our competitiveness will be even worse than today.

It’s very important to go out and really explain to the industry and to the people what the energy transition is about, what does it mean, what are the costs of energy transition.

We need to be brave enough to explain what the costs are of not doing the energy transition.

If we have a good framework for investments, we don’t really need the money of the state. We don’t need this dilemma of whether to put the money into education for example or into the energy networks.

If we have a good framework, we are ready to find the money to invest in the networks. We are very much aware of the fact that affordability is very important, because if we are investing in something that’s not affordable, we will not get customers. We are ready to have a discussion with the authorities on this topic.”

The Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council (CNR-CME) organizes on June 16-18 the biennial Regional Energy Forum (FOREN).

Having reached its 17th edition, FOREN 2024 responds to a real need for analysing and debating on the status of the energy sectors in the Central and Southeast European region and identifying cooperation solutions in energy domain.