S01E03: Romania's energy transition (part 1) | The Global Energy Transition Podcast

Now committed to phasing out coal by 2032, Romania is set to embark on a sweeping energy transition. A key condition of their nearly €30 billion Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Commission, the mines and old power plants will be replaced by new solar and hydrogen as well as fossil gas development. But during COP26,  Romania’s provisional government surprisingly inked a deal with the U.S. to construct a fleet of experimental nuclear units their too. 

In this episode, lead blogger and podcaster Michael Buchsbaum takes a deeper look in Part One of his Romanian Power Move series. Listen for interviews from Romania’s Energy Ministry State Secretary Dan Drāgan who explains the government’s “decarbonization” vision and the country’s planned shift to fossil gas and solar. 

Offering more insights and color commentary, we also hear from Bankwatch Romania’s Just Transition Campaigner, Dan Dobre, just after he returned from the coal fields, and also Bankwatch’s Romanian Energy and Transition Campaign Coordinator, Laura Nazare from the NGOs national office in Bucharest. Click here for more reports from Bankwatch and to go deeper, readers and listeners can click here, here and here. To read one of the transformation strategies for Gorj County, click here. 

You can play the episode on EnergyTransition.org, on Audioboom, and it’s also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
 

You can also read more from host Michael Buchsbaum about Romania’s energy transition in the ongoing Romanian Power Move series on the Global Energy Transition blog here, visit his website here or follow Buchsbaum on Twitter @LMicalBuchsbaum.

Audio mixing and editing for the podcast conducted by the sound guru, Christian Kreymborg. 

Shownotes:

Report "Coal in Romania - A review of coal-based assets and how they affect the
environment" by Bankwatch Romania

Europe Beyond Coal "Romania commits to exiting coal by 2032 at the latest"

Greenpeace CEE Press Hub "The Oltenia Energy Complex calls for more than € 1 billion to restructure and decarbonize, but significantly increases CO2 emissions over the next 10 years"

Energy Policy Group & Greenpeace România report "The sustainable transition of Gorj County"

2Celsius - Romanian environmental NGO

Balkan Green Energy News "Romania tells EU it would close all coal mines by 2032"

Romania Insider "European Commission greenlights Romania’s EUR 29.2 bln recovery and resilience plan"

Audio from the podcast was mixed and edited by audio expert Christian Kreymborg.