EBRD President to pay visit to Romania

The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, is coming to Bucharest this week, where he will have talks with President Klaus Iohannis, with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, with the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, as well as with representatives of the environment business.

Renaud-Basso will also address the Three Seas Initiative Summit on Wednesday. The EBRD is very interested in the renewable energy sector in Romania and supports the introduction of contracts for difference as support for green energy producers.

The EBRD has so far invested 10.5 billion euros in Romania, especially in infrastructure and the financial sector, our country being in sixth place in the top of the bank’s investment destinations, according to a press release from the EBRD. Last year, 61% of the EBRD’s investments in Romania, totaling 709 million euros, were in the green economy.

This is Odile Renaud-Basso’s first visit to Romania, as president of the EBRD, a few months after PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu became prime minister.

The EBRD representatives note that, since then, Romania has made considerable progress on the energy market by intending to launch tenders for the contract-for-difference (CfD) support scheme for renewable energy, an initiative supported by the EBRD.

Onshore wind and PV projects with a capacity of 2,000MW will be supported through a CfD scheme for 15 years, with tender winners expected to be announced in November.

“The development of renewable energy is a priority of EBRD investments in Romania. The EBRD is ready to support other such initiatives to help Romania become sustainable and meet its targets from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility”, the EBRD chief said.