Romania’s coal-fired power plants efficiency and pollution in the context of the European green deal

• Main Author: Vlad NERĂU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: General Association of Economists from Romania 2021-03-01
• Series: Theoretical and Applied Economics
• Subjects: green deal; coal; energy transition; pollution
• Online Access: http://store.ectap.ro/articole/1521.pdf

This article analyses the efficiency of coal-fired power plants in Romania in the European Green Deal context. The focus is on the coal-fired power plants of the Oltenia and Hunedoara Energy Power Plants, as they generate over 97% of coal-fired electricity in Romania. Oltenia Energy Power Plant (CEO) is composed of eleven power plants with an average lifetime of 37 years while of Hunedoara Energy Power Plant (CEH) is composed of six power plants with an average lifetime of 42 years. At the same time, the article estimates the impact of the closure of these two energy groups on the main air pollutants and how close this would bring Romania to the targets set by the Green Deal for 2030. The article also estimates the losses from different energy sources incurred in the process of transforming raw electricity into electricity delivered to the consumers and finds that oil & gas and coal sectors have considerably higher losses than other electricity sources, with wind being the most efficient from this perspective.