Oltenia Energy Complex, Photo: AGERPRES
The Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, had a meeting with the unions of the Oltenia Energy Complex and the management of the company on Tuesday.
After Tuesday's meeting, the official announced that “all 5 groups of CE Oltenia will be operational this winter”.
“After we obtained, through negotiation with the European Commission, the modification of the timetable for closing the coal-based energy capacities, today we had a new meeting with the unions of the Oltenia Energy Complex and the management of the company. We analyzed together the next steps for the safe operation of the national energy system and the protection of jobs”, said Bogdan Ivan, on Tuesday evening, in a post on Facebook.
According to the minister, three of the groups at CE Oltenia will continue to operate until 2030: Rovinari 4, Rovinari 5 and Turceni 5, with capacities of 310 megawatts each.
“For the other two – Rovinari 6 and Turceni 4, each with a capacity of 310 MW – we are analyzing technical maintenance scenarios after August 31, 2026: either in strategic reserve or in conservation. We will also keep Craiova 1 and 2 groups active, as well as Govora 3,” he added.
The minister's announcement comes in the context in which the National Recovery and Resilience Plan has been modified, giving Romania the opportunity to continue to have active coal plants. Otherwise, according to the minister, our country was in a position to close 1,755 megawatts at the end of this year.
“Through this modification of the PNRR, which was an extremely complicated one, Romania made sure that the worst scenario, namely the situation of having a potential blackout under certain conditions this winter, will be 100% avoided, which ensures that we still have a very clear way of getting through this winter. Also, 4,500 people will keep their jobs,” Minister Bogdan Gruia said, on October 22, in a press conference at the Palace Victoria, quoted by Agerpres.
