Virgil Popescu spoke for Romanians throughout the country about a new emergency ordinance that was adopted by the Romanian Government in this week's meeting, it was created because it is a milestone of the PNRR, Romania committing to phase out coal from the energy mix of our country until 2032.
Virgil Popescu says the electricity generated by the Hunedoara Energy Complex using coal represented only 1% of the total national energy production system, but the current ordinance provides for the extension of the mine closure period and their safekeeping in the coming years, with additional details below .
"Yes, let's start with the ordinance regarding the decarbonization of the energy system, an ordinance that is a milestone of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Plan, an ordinance that aims to phase out coal from the energy mix by 2032. I would also start with a preamble of the two large companies, Complexul Energetic Hunedoara and Complexul Energetic Oltenia.
The Hunedoara Energy Complex has provided, in the last 4-5 years, a very small amount of energy from the national electricity production system, about 1%. It was founded in 2014, with all its debts written off, along with other companies that merged, and in 2019 it went into insolvency with debts of over three billion euros, an insolvency also due to state aid which had to be refunded because it was not correct in 2015.
The Minister of Finance at that time is the author of this insolvency of the Hunedoara Energy Complex. At the Hunedoara Energy Complex, in 2017, the government at the time implemented a mine closure program, respectively at the Lonea Mine and the Lupeni Mine; at the Lonea Mine, the closure was supposed to be completed at the end of 2020, and at the Lupeni mine at the end of 2021.
Through this decarbonization ordinance, we are practically extending the closure and safekeeping period, because we are talking about the safekeeping of coal mines, where there can be a spontaneous ignition at any time; the extension of the closure of the two mines until 2026 and the closure and safekeeping of the Livezeni and Vulcan mines until 2032, in parallel with the Paroșeni thermal power plant, which will neutralize the coal we will extract, coal which will continue to produce electricity .
This is the proposal, which is being discussed at the level of the European Commission, and we will also request state aid for this. We created the general framework through the Decarbonization Ordinance. In the case of the Oltenia Energetic Complex, the largest coal producer in Romania, which produces about 18% of Romania's electricity, in 2020 a decision of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which was established by the Control Body, remained final of the Ministry of Energy, a damage - so there was also damage - of 680 million lei."
