George Agafitei, PPC Romania: “We must try to stimulate R&D, to invest in new future-proof technologies at the European level”

“Romania has gone through a decentralization of energy production, and the networks were not designed for the new production logic. Energy no longer flows in one direction, from a nuclear power plant to a final consumer, household one or industrial one. We have household consumers who inject energy into the network, we have SMEs that inject energy into the network, all divided into several geographical areas of the country.

The logic in which the distribution networks were built has lagged far behind compared to today’s challenges. Regulation has lagged a little behind, but we have a dialogue with the regulatory authorities and I hope that we will get where we need to go, because investments in cybersecurity cannot be postponed. I would like us not to have to repair, but to prevent possible negative situations,” George Agafitei, Director of Regulatory & Institutional Affairs, PPC Romania said at Energy CEO Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• A challenge is also related to the hardware necessary to implement these cybersecurity policies. We are exposed to products and equipment from China, which generate some vulnerabilities for us. I think 80% of the inverters installed in prosumers in Romania are from a Chinese manufacturer.
• I don’t want to talk about a dark scenario regarding a conflict in several regions, but it is clear that we need to prevent possible crisis situations, and Romania cannot do this alone. In order to develop a production chain for hardware and cybersecurity capabilities, Europe needs to get its priorities in order.
• We focused on the Green Deal without seeing what the long-term implications of this decentralization of electricity production are. I think we are starting to understand what the risks and vulnerabilities are for the networks and I hope we get to where we need to be before we end up in a major crisis like other countries in Europe have experienced.
• At the European level, we must try to stimulate R&D, to invest in new future-proof technologies so that we don’t risk suffering what we suffered with solar panels, which we could buy from a single source and so we had a vulnerability.