Romania has the potential to cut its energy consumption by some 11.7 million tonnes equivalent petrol (toe) by 2025 by introducing several measures for energy efficiency, according to a recent study by the Romanian Association to promote Energy Efficiency (ARPEE).

The potential savings which could be generated from energy efficiency could reach up to EUR 7.4 billion or an equivalent of almost 6 percent of Romania’s GDP, according to the study.

Higher efficiency in industrial, domestic energy consumption and transport would help decrease Romania's energy consumption by 5.8 million toe. On the energy production segment, Romania can also save some 5.1 million toe by promoting high efficiency co-generation and renewable energy. Romania could thus save some EUR 1.7 to EUR 3 billion on the generation side.

The same study shows that Romania wastes some 10 million toe every year because of energy losses in production, distribution and transport. The country can save some EUR 1.3 billion on the transport and distribution side by reducing network losses. On the supply segment, the country needs to cut its industrial energy production - a EUR 1 billion potential saving, while cutting consumption would save some EUR 3 billion in total.

Romania could support a 4 to 6 percent increase in GDP, of some EUR 5 to 7 billion, without any extra energy consumption, by improving its energy efficiency between 2010 and 2020, according to ARPEE. This would allow for a better energy security for Romania and would reduce the social impact of energy costs for consumers and improve the competitiveness of Romanian companies.

“Energy efficiency in all of Romania's economy sectors is far from European standards. We consume 2.5 times more energy per GDP unit that the average in the European Union. Even if energy consumption has dropped in recent years, this was not due to improvements in energy efficiency, but to the economic crisis, which affected industrial producers,” said Gilles Humbert, president of ARPEE and of Dalkia România.

The total primary energy resources fell by 2.2 percent from 2011 to just over 34 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Domestic energy production also fell, by 2.7 percent to some 22.7 billion toe, while imports dropped by 1.2 percent to around 11.2 billion toe, according to the latest figures from Romania's national statistics office (INS).

“Romania currently has energy prices below the European Union average, but we expect the price level to go up on the medium term as the energy market would liberalize, as due to investments in the sector. So it is essential to take action on consumption by introducing efficiency measures for individual consumers, as well as for industrial ones,” said Bogdan Belciu, Partener, Management Consultancy Services within PwC Romania.

ARPEE was recently launched, with its founding members being ABB România, Alstom România, Dalkia România, Elcomex IEA, EnergoBit Group, GDF Suez Energy România, Lafarge România, OMV Petrom, PwC România.

editor@romania-insider.com