Romanian minister warns "perfect storm" could send power grid into blackout this winter

Energy minister Bogdan Ivan, who promised to come up by the end of last week with an update on the negotiations with the European Commission (EC) on the prolongation of the functioning of several coal-fired power plants, keeps warning of extreme developments under circumstances described as "the perfect storm" this winter.

Minister Ivan announced that, for the first time in two years, the European Commission has agreed to reopen discussions on decarbonization. However, he failed to explain whether the EC would allow Romania to keep coal-fired power plants in operation this winter.

Speaking for Prima TV, the minister stressed that the authorities are doing everything in their power to avoid such a scenario. However, his comments suggested that he is also under social pressure to keep the units operational.

"Right now [...] I'm coming from another debate with the unionists from the Oltenia energy complex. [W]e're negotiating with the European Commission, and for the first time, after two years, they were willing to accept the reopening of discussions on target 119, which is about carbonisation.In this storm, I hope that we'll get through this winter well, continuing to maintain coal-fired energy production capacities, at least for this winter, so that we can continue to have enough energy for the balancing market," minister Ivan said, according to Ziarul Financiar.

Ivan had previously warned of possible "blackouts," ignoring experts' explanations regarding the planned disconnection of large industrial consumers in case the supply tends to severely drop below expected consumption.

(Photo source: Facebook/Ministerul Energiei)