Adrian Bazavan, an advisor for international relations at Romania’s Ministry of Energy, announced that the country will persist in providing emergency electricity to Ukraine, although challenges regarding capacity and connectivity remain. Currently, Europe’s electricity network has a limited export capacity to Ukraine of just 1.7 GW. Bazavan emphasized that Ukraine requires both immediate emergency support and long-term assistance to rebuild a more resilient energy system, with plans to increase export capacity to 2 GW in the near future.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, connecting the energy systems of Romania and Ukraine was not a priority, exposing significant vulnerabilities. As Europe shifts its focus to Ukraine’s reconstruction, it is crucial to rapidly enhance interconnectivity capacity. With Ukraine being an EU candidate, alignment with EU energy market rules is imminent.
Bazavan also mentioned that the gas transport contract between Russia and Ukraine, set to expire on December 31, will not be renewed. Consequently, Romania and Moldova need to explore alternatives for supplying gas to Ukraine via the Trans-Balkan pipeline, which transports gas from LNG terminals in Qatar and Western Europe.
