The Romania Eficienta Forum, organized by the Energy Policy Group (EPG), with the support of OMV Petrom, brought together renowned energy experts, along with representatives of public authorities and civil society, in a dialogue dedicated to the energy transition in the buildings sector.

Radu Dudău, President of EPG, opened the event by emphasizing the importance of the Forum as a space for debate and analysis of current topics in the field of energy efficiency in buildings.

Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom, emphasized the decisive role of information in accelerating positive change, reiterating her confidence in the “multiplier effect” generated by the Romania Eficienta program, both through the educational-informative component and the practical one, dedicated to the renovation of school buildings to nZEB standards.

Bogdan Atanasiu, an expert from the European Commission (DG Ener), presented the EPBD Implementation Support Package and the legislative news that will be published by the European Commission at the end of June and introduced the first panel of the conference, dedicated to the mechanisms for integrating socio-economic criteria and protecting vulnerable categories in the energy renovation and decarbonization process of the building stock, by highlighting the opportunities created by the revised EPBD and the European funds allocated to Romania in combating energy poverty.

Among the challenges reported by Eliza Barnea, coordinator of the Just Transition Campaign, Bankwatch Romania and the technical coordinator involved in the development of the National Social Climate Plan, the lack of property documents that limits financial assistance to the most vulnerable households, the reduced capacity of local authorities to access European funds, as well as the need to identify locally specific solutions for the decarbonization of heating and energy efficiency of homes, stands out. In the chapter on solutions, Cătălin Lungu, President of OAER, spoke about financial incentives, measures to protect vulnerable households and the priority renovation of buildings with the worst energy performance, as provided for by the EPBD. He was joined by Eugen Pănescu, member of the board of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), who advocated for an integrated and collaborative approach that would respond not only to energy poverty, but also to the lack of resources and technical knowledge at the local level.

The second panel of the Forum addressed strategies for ensuring energy performance in public buildings following renovations. Anca Ginavar, Director of MDLPA, stressed the importance of integrating energy efficiency and renewable energy sources into urban planning and the need to diversify funding sources. Andrei Ceclan, President of SAMER, drew attention to the negative impact of the knowledge deficit of the construction workforce, responsible for the quality of renovation works and of administrators who cannot operate, post-renovation, the energy monitoring and efficiency systems (BEMS). Adrian Ghiță, Director of the Romanian Energy Efficiency Fund, completed the discussion from the perspective of private financiers, concerned about the financial risks and the duration of the investment recovery.

Within the panel dedicated to the transition to ZEB buildings through renewable energy and the preparation of the existing network, Horia Petran, President of Cluster-PRO nZEB and Mihai Moia, Executive Director of ROENEF focused on the correct implementation of the nZEB standard as a first preparatory step for ZEB: we need an integrated approach, which includes renovation passports and one-stop shops and better information on the available technologies and the benefits of energy renovated buildings. The second step: identifying the most suitable “clean” energy source, by reporting to the local network of which the building is part. Dalia Stoian, Chief Engineer & Project Manager EFdeN took the topic of discussion further, talking about prosumers, the challenges and the evolution of energy communities in Romania in the context of the existing energy system, and Tobiasz Adamczewski, Vice President of the Energy Forum presented the case of Poland, one of the most advanced European countries in terms of integrating solar energy into the national mix.