The Government considers that Romania should increase the power output over the next years, given the negotiations for EU joining and the need for most power structures to be updated. The total amount necessary for investments over the next 10 years amounts to 12-15 billion dollars.
Premier Adrian Nastase on Wednesday said that Romania’s power sufficiency was quite low, reaching 61.8% last year, as compared to 72.3% in 1992.
“Over the next years, we might lose production capacities totalling 5,000 MW, as the equipment is very old,” Nastase said.
He specified that the “non-industrialisation” process has led to a power consumption drop from 10,000-11,000 MW in 1989 to 7,000-8,000 MW in 1995 and 5.500-6,000 MW in 2000. Premier Adrian Nastase admitted that the compensation system in the power field largely contributed to this slump.
Adrian Nastase estimated that the level of power market liberalisation would reach 40% in 2004, as compared to the current 15% and more than 60% in the EU countries.
When the second unit of Cernavoda nuclear plant becomes operational, power output is expected to rise. Like the first Unit, the second one will have a 750 MW capacity.
Adrian Nastase states that works will take more than four years and 750 million-dollar investments in order to be concluded. “Works at Cernavoda Unit II will be finalised by a combined system,” Nastase said.
The Canadian Nuclear Power Agency, Romania’s partner when building the first Cernavoda Unit, and Euratom, the European agency operating in this field, which will allot the money only after at least two years, are expected to collaborate for finalising works.
In the meanwhile, the state budget is to finance the production of heavy water necessary for the unit to get started, which costs 200 million dollars. This year, the Government will allot 700-800 billion lei of the 2,000 billion lei additionally needed by 2004.