The Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu has announced that he would be in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday to discuss with the European officials the restructuring plan of the Energy Complex Oltenia which is a network of coal mines and power plants, according to actmedia.eu.
„We have assumed the support of the European Green Pact, that Green Deal and we are taking steps towards this direction. We are in a process of restructuring the Energy Complex Oltenia and I will be in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday to discuss it,” said Popescu.
„We want Oltenia which has an energy mix relying 100% on coal to have, at the end of this restructuring process, coal as well as gas and renewable energy,” added Popescu on Friday in a press release on the occasion of the campaign ‘Green Friday’.
In December, the Romanian state notified officially the European Commission with regard to the restructuring plan of the Energy Complex Oltenia which includes the offering of state aids.
The network needs the approval of the European Commission until the end of April to get the state aid which allows it to pay for the certificates for carbon dioxide emissions of last year without any penalties.
Energy Complex Oltenia started the dialogue with important banking institutions in Romania, commercial banks as well as European banking institutions to secure loans that could support the contribution of it to the restructuring effort.