About the Event

The Diplomat Bucharest organizes the third edition of its national Forum exclusively dedicated to thermal power - Thermal Energy Forum 2018, on February 22, at InterContinental Hotel Bucharest – Rapsodia Hall.
On 30 November 2016, the European Commission published its so-called Winter Package of eight proposals to facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy and to reform the design and operation of the European Union’s energy market. Proposals amending existing energy market legislation, proposals amending existing climate change legislation and proposals for new measures are the main pillars of this package of "Winter Package".
The revised Renewable Energy Directive seeks to mainstream RES in heating and cooling installations, and in the transport sector. On district heating and cooling, the revised RED takes a three-pronged approach.
Member States are to ensure that authorities at local, national and regional level “include provisions for the integration and deployment of renewable energy and the utilization of unavoidable waste heat or cold when planning, designing, building and renovating urban infrastructure, industrial or residential areas and energy infrastructure, including electricity, district heating, and cooling, natural gas and alternative fuel networks”.
The efficiency of district heating systems is to be certified and providers of such systems must grant access to new customers where they have the capacity to do so. Customers of systems that are not efficient may disconnect from them in favor of their own RES heat and cooling, but Member States may restrict this right to those who can demonstrate that the customer’s own heating or cooling solution is more efficient.
There is to be regular consultation between operators of district heating and gas / electricity networks about the potential to exploit synergies between investments in their respective networks. Electricity network operators must also assess the potential for using district heating and cooling networks for balancing and energy storage purposes.
In relation to biomass, the revised RED would appear to prohibit “public support for installations converting biomass into electricity” unless they apply high efficiency CHP, if they have a fuel capacity of 20 MW or more. The revised RED would tighten the sustainability criteria applicable to biofuels and bioliquids with greenhouse gas emissions – for example those arising from land use to grow the raw materials that become biofuels – being designated as a distinct impact to be measured.
With this conference aimed at high-level policymakers and companies’ leadership, The Diplomat - Bucharest seeks to strengthen the dialogue on the current state and the new opportunities for the Romanian thermal energy sector, in the context of the Winter Package proposals..