Renewable energy to be more expensive without smart infrastructure (CRE)

Wind and solar energy cannot be used at full capacity without a smart electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure, which will lead to low profitability and a higher price for consumers, said Corneliu Bodea, president of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE) and CEO of Adrem, within the "New technologies in energy" project, carried out by AGERPRES.

"A sound policy for the development of a country's energy infrastructure should be approached in an integrated, predictable and coherent manner, with clear, time-appropriate, achievable and relevant objectives. Moreover, the holistic approach should be competent and legislatively aligned in all primary or secondary regulations. Unfortunately, the National Energy Strategy and the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan cannot be said "to be guilty" of such an approach. I believe that an urgent review of all specific legislation, in the sense of building a new coherent package from scratch, should be the first priority. The extended patchwork and differentiated approaches between the relevant institutions have brought Romania to a place where the lack of a unitary and clear policy will turn into a reduced appetite for investments for major projects," says Bodea.

"In Romania, I have the courage to declare that the level of network intelligence is on one of the last places in the EU, maybe even on the last. This reality will delay and render inefficient the adoption of renewable technology when we talk about targets above 30 percent in such generation technologies and will make the target of over 50 percent that we have in front of us impossible. I believe that we have time to recover, provided that the efforts of the experts and the will of the politicians are available," added the CRE president.

The future is digital and electric, and the lack of a consistent vision that keeps up with the times can place us against the current, with enormous costs for the industry, household consumers and the environment, Bodea also said.