Corina Popescu, CEO Electrica: “If we know how to develop competitive projects, we will maintain a high level of energy security”
“This decade must solve the following paradigm. The concept of network development will be made on the basis of some decisions, analyses that are made at the level of some regional energy security centers, which unfortunately we don’t talk much about. Romania is part of two energy security centers, the one for the Central Eastern European region and the one for the Southeast European region. The analyses of the functioning of the system on the energy security side are no longer done at national level, but at regional level,” Corina Popescu, CEO Electrica said during the Energy CEO Forum 2021 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.
“Certainly, these analyses will have an impact on the development of production units in the future. It is possible for some regions to develop a production unit in a country with greater ease than in other countries. We are in a race in which Romania must make this transition between the two regions.
We want to be part of the European single market. I would have liked Romania to be on-the-lead in this segment. The center of energy security for the south-eastern European area is Greece and we are part of that center. I would have liked the experience gained in European projects to help us attract to Romania these analyses we talked about.
We have to fight in the two regions. We will be able to be winners if we have competitive projects. It’s all about competitiveness. From my perspective, we must take this aspect into account in the development of projects in the next decade. If we know how to develop competitive projects, we will maintain a high level of energy security.
This decade is a decade of consumers. We are talking about decentralization, but this cannot be done without digitalization. The big challenge for this decade will be how the energy industry will face the challenges coming from smart customers.
I don’t know how ready Romania is to absorb the new energy storage technologies and to develop them so that we too can have an added value on the horizontal industry and face this decentralization. This decade could be called the smart customer decade.
Digitization can lead to improved performance standards in both the distribution and supply segments.
Romania needs an energy strategy that shows the strategic directions for the next decade.”
The CEO Forum brings together the decision makers at the Governmental level and civil society and C-level business leaders in the energy sector. The Forum joins on the same stage senior figures, experts and the most knowns specialists in the field, to discuss some of the most pressing aspects of the industry today.
SPEAKERS | CEO FORUM:
CORINA POPESCU, CEO Electrica
ERIC STAB, Chairman & CEO, ENGIE Romania
MIHAI DRAGHICI, Senior Manager, Business Advisory, EY
STEFAN GADOLA, Director General, EnergoBit
RAZVAN COPOIU, CEO Signify Romania
CORNELIU BODEA, CEO Adrem & President, Romanian Energy Center (CRE)
ONDREJ SAFAR, CEO CEZ Romania
VALERIU BINIG, Director, Regulatory and Antitrust, ENEL