The Oltenia complex, twisting in the wind

The output of wind farms is mostly taken over by the national energy system. This means that if consumption is low, and the wind farms generate energy, the National Energy Dispatcher (DEN) halts coal-based electricity production to balance the system. When the wind stops blowing, coal-based units are started to cover the consumption needed.

The Oltenia Energy Complex, which brings together energy based on lignite, was heavily affected, lately by this mechanism for the coming into the market of the renewable energy producers.

Laurenţiu Ciurel, the general executive manager and president of the Directorate of the Oltenia Complex said: "The priority in taking on the wind energy leads to the significant increase in the production costs of the coal-based energy groups due to an inefficient operation, in a variable system, an uneconomical loads, below the optimum yield, following the frequent turn-ons and shutdowns of the decided by the DEN in order to balance the system.

Over the last few weeks, daily turnoffs have been turned on and off daily for each 330 MW unit. There have been cases where, in 24 hours, the DEN decided the shutdown and turn on at the Oltenia Complex of a cumulated capacity of approximately 800 MW, which involves costs of 200,000 Euros/day, and implicitly millions of Euros/year".

In his opinion, there is a need to change the regulations in the industry, namely the change in the order the renewable energy producers come into the renewable and cogeneration energy market: "The new law of energy does not stipulate that producers of renewable energy (wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc) are required to provide replacement energy. They could sign contracts for the replacement energy with the safe producers, such as the Oltenia Complex".

The director of the Oltenia Complex also told us that the current support scheme for renewable energy has to be changed, as it is far too generous in his opinion. "It is out of the question that he Oltenia Complex would collapse because of the extremely fluctuating output of the wind farms, but there is the problem of the effectiveness of use of the plant I manage and, not least of all, of the safety of the National Energy System", said Laurenţiu Ciurel.

Octavian Lohan, member on the Board of Transelectrica, explained that, when the wind farms produce energy, the National Energy Dispatch shuts down the thermoelectric units, in the order of their cost. Thus, the units with the highest costs are shut down first: "During this winter period, the thermoelectric plants which supply power to the population and to the public institutions can't be shut down. Therefore, the most expensive producer that can be shut down is the Oltenia Complex. The situation isn't that dire as they have presented it, nor is it something that happens constantly. Last year, the Oltenia Complex sold a lot of energy and turned out a profit amid the hydrological draught. Now, Hidroelectrica has returned to normal, and consumption has fallen. Thus, competition among the producers has increased".

He said that the regulation for the start-up and shutdown of the energy units is set by the ANRE (the energy market regulator).

According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS), the volume of energy produced by thermoelectric plants, hydroelectric plants and nuclear plants has dropped in 2012 compared to 2011. The output of wind farms doubled in 2012 compared to 2011, exceeding 2,000 GWh.

Romania tends to become the biggest maker of wind electricity in Europe, as new licenses have been issued for 35,000 MW, even as domestic consumption amounts to 7,500-8,000 MW (installed power).

Laurenţiu Ciurel told us: "Even if renewable energy is the future, the instability of the source, (wind or sun) are causing its excessive development to create major imbalances in the system. Because of that, I think that it would be mandatory to develop a source of constant energy. That source is coal".

He said that coal-based energy allows offsetting the deficit in the system, should the activity of the other energy producers in the system be disrupted.