Romania takes controversial energy projects out of Resilience Plan

All the projects awarded directly to some state and private companies under the Resilience Plan PNRR were scrapped and replaced with projects to be financed under a competitive selection of projects, announced the minister of energy Virgil Popescu, in an interview to Economedia and G4Media.

Popescu said that the decision was taken after discussions with representatives of the European Commission "so that there are no more questions about why other companies cannot participate in these projects."

Some projects included in PNRR were initially assigned to companies with majority state capital (Electrica SA, Nuclearelectrica, Hidroelectrica) or to partnerships between state companies ( Romgaz) and the private company GSP Power, owned by local entrepreneur Gabriel Comanescu.

One of such projects is a power plant located in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast, that would burn natural gas in combination with 30% H2 generated from wind and solar production capacities that abound in that region of the country.

GSP Power, the energy division of Grup Servicii Petroliere, has submitted three projects for which it is requesting public funds. The largest of them is a power plant with gas engines, in simple cycle, with a capacity of 155 MW, a project that would be carried out in the city of Constanța, and which would have a value of RON 273 mln (EUR 54 mln).

(Photo: Virgil Popescu Facebook Page)