State-owned group CE Oltenia (CEO), the largest coal-fired electricity producer in Romania, will not abandon all of its coal-fired power plants in its restructuring and decarbonization plan, which includes the conversion of part of the installed capacity from coal to gas.

The company will invest about EUR 300 million in the coal-fired units from its own sources, according to a statement by the company's general manager, Daniel Burlan, Economica.net reported.

The decarbonization plan aims to reduce the CO2 emissions related to CEO's electricity production from 0.82 tonnes per MW per hour, as at present, to 0.74 tonnes in 2025 and 0.51 tonnes in 2026.

The targets will be achieved through the diversification of the resources used. Thus, CEO will build eight photovoltaic parks with an installed capacity of 735 MW and will convert some coal groups into gas groups.

The program includes investments worth EUR 1.4 billion. CEO will cover half of this amount, and the other half will come from the so-called "modernization funds" - money distributed to specific green projects by the European Commission from the revenues generated by the sale of CO2 emission certificates.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Complexul Energetic Oltenia)