A Norwegian company wants to invest EUR 800 million in Romania to develop a coal substitute plant, acting minister of energy Virgil Popescu announced on Wednesday, November 24.

The coal substitutes are fuels specifically designed to mimic coal but with lesser environmental impact, developed as a way to keep coal-fired power plants operating even as the use of coal is phased out.

"It's a big Norwegian company that we negotiated with. It wants to build more production facilities for this type of fuel that can replace coal. It is a fuel based on biomass, but we are not talking about wood - it's rather a mixture of biomass," Popescu told the press at the end of the hearings in the joint specialized committees of the Parliament, Economica.net reported.

"I sent them first to the Jiu Valley [where most coal-fired power plants are located]," the government official added.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)