Iulian Popescu, Deputy Managing Partner and head of Musat & Asociatii’s Energy & Natural Resources practice, spoke at the Power & Energy Tech Exhibition and Conference Vision 2030 – PETEC 2019 on 2 December 2019.
The role of natural gas and renewables in a fast-evolving energy market towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals was the main theme of the event and Iulian spoke on a panel relating to the Energy Prospects in The Black Sea Region up to 2030. Iulian focused on the future perspectives of the Romanian energy sector and the impact of GEO 114/2018 at local and European levels. GEO 114/2018, Iulian noted, will affect the dynamics of the domestic gas market in a variety of contexts, making it less competitive. Conducting business will be more challenging for local producers due to discrimination, the retail price will be higher, investments will decrease, and imports will increase.
The GEO also puts a restraint on selling natural gas, obligating companies to sell with priority on the Romanian market, which, at European level, represents a violation of EU law; It also puts in place measures violating the objective of protecting household customers from excessive price increase;
Even with the recent updates related to the application of GEO 114, Iulian noted that it should be repealed.
As far as the coal versus gas debate, the latter presents clear advantages, but clean energy transition is the future, Iulian noted.
Learn more at https://energyindustryreview.com/events/a-future-sustainable-energy-mix/
