THE BURSA NEWSPAPER HAS ANNOUNCED IT SINCE OCTOBER Usitall is withdrawing from Romania, due to the local authorities

Swedish company Usitall, which intended to invest over 200 million Euros in Romania in a plant for generating thermal energy out of waste, has dropped its plans, claiming lack of interest from the local authorities. Usitall CEO Mattias Philipsson said: "Even though Romania has a national strategy for managing waste and clear goals set by the European Union, which involve several intermediary targets, such as those concerning the shutdown of landfills which do not comply with environmental regulations, there is no plan yet to implement this strategy which would enjoy the support and the will of the entire political class".

Over the last two years, the Swedish company had lots of talks with local authorities in several cities in order to build cogeneration thermal plants in Romania.

Mattias Philipsson added: "Our negotiations failed first of all on a local level. Even though the officials of the cities had access to all the information about the Usitall technology for a long time, they have made no commitment to the fact that our cogeneration solution would provide, in just a few years, the heating of all the apartments in these cities at very competitive prices, using only municipal waste. Unfortunately, the local authorities do not have a sustainable plan to ensure heating in the long term, at in terms of cost efficiency or of the impact of the waste on the environment. A few years will probably be necessary until the prioritization of these projects, we remain willing to share our experience in this sector".

As the developer of the project, Usitall, would have fully ensured the financing. The main benefits for the local communities would have been the production of thermal energy at minimal costs and the elimination of municipal waste. The Usitall technology would have solved two of the major problems the cities in Romania are faced with: that of ensuring heating, warm water and electricity at competitive prices, as well as the elimination of household waste in a safe manner, with a minimum impact on the environment.

In order to stimulate foreign investments in this sector, the Usitall officials consider that the authorities should grant the municipal authorities the full power to decide on the manner to exploit municipal waste, as is the case in all the other European countries.

In October, in an interview granted to the BURSA newspaper, the management of Usitall said that the company is considering pulling out of Romania, due to the lack of interest from the Romanian authorities. "All it takes for us to begin the investments for generating energy out of waste, on a local level, all we need is for the local administration to make the commitment to buy the generated energy, while the investor would bear the costs, as well as the risk of the failure of the project", said Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Usitall, at the time. "If we fail, either because we failed to get the necessary permits, either because the project itself is not feasible, the company would lose the money invested until that the moment, whereas the mayoralty would lose nothing. If the project succeeds, however, the mayoralty would get thermal energy at prices which are guaranteed to be lower than the current ones ".

Usitall is a Swedish company from the city of Linkoping, which has close connections to the local municipality. The company has over 50 years of expertise in developing and operating latest generation plants for turning waste into energy. Linkoping's entire energy supply comes from this type of plants. In recognition of the achievements and of the expertise of the Swedish company, the town in which it has its headquarters was selected in 2011, to host the World Renewable Energy Congress. According to the commitments to the EU, Romania is expected to reach a minimum recycling rate of 55% by 2013. In 2008, Romania had an average of 36.7 million tons of waste, and 99% of the municipal waste was stored in landfills.