Preliminary assessment of the third payment request of Romania (2024)

payment request, the decommissioning of 330 MW of capacity and the mothballing of 330 MW of capacity amounts to a total shutdown of 2 355 MW of coal and lignite-fired installed electricity production capacity, out of which 2 025 MW have been decommissioned and 330 MW have been mothballed.

Reassurance that the decommissioning of Power Unit no. 3 – 300 MW from the Rovinari Thermal Power Plant is permanent has been provided by way of: (i) Address no. 34444/25.07.2023 containing an attestation by the TSO Transelectrica that the power unit is physically separated from the national electricity systems; (ii) Decision of the CE Oltenia Directorate no. 54/29.06.2023 to decommission and capitalise by way of scrapping fixed assets related to Power Unit no. 3 from the Rovinari Thermal Power Plant.

The mothballed capacity is to be decommissioned by the end of 2025 […]

Ministerial Order No. 326/2024 issued by the Ministry of Energy on the activation of mothballed energy production capacity specifies that the approved period of the conservation status of Unit No. 7 runs from 1 June 2023 until 31 December 2025 at the latest. Moreover, all relevant decisions and notifications related to the mothballing of 330 MW of electricity generation capacity specify 31 December 2025 as the end date of the approved conservation status. Most importantly, in its Decision 1357/25.05.2023 modifying License no. 1085 for the commercial exploitation of capacities for the production of electricity and heat in cogeneration, granted to the operator CE Oltenia, the National Energy Regulator (ANRE) specifies 1 June 2023 until 31 December 2025 as the period during which Unit No. 7 from the Turceni Thermal Power Plant remains in conservation status.

[…] and can be activated and called to produce only in the specific circumstances laid down in Article 4 of the Decarbonisation Law and in full compliance with relevant EU law, including State aid rules.

Ministerial Order No. 326/2024 issued by the Ministry of Energy on the activation of mothballed energy production capacity specifies the rules and procedures for the reactivation of mothballed electricity generation capacity at Unit No. 7 from the Turceni Thermal Power Plant. The rules regulate the conditions for reactivation in line with Article 4 of the Decarbonisation Law, i.e., the plant shall be kept in conservation and be reactivated only if the transmission system operator is likely to exhaust its balancing resources, and in compliance with relevant EU law, including State aid rules. The annex to the Ministerial Order specifies that the identification of electricity shortages that justify the reactivation in line with the specified procedures is based either on a European Resource Adequacy Assessment (ERAA) or a National Resource Adequacy Assessment in line with the ERAA.

Commission Preliminary Assessment: Satisfactorily fulfilled