Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu announced that the Romanian Government approved the ordinance that establishes the institutional and financial framework for the disbursement of grants under the Modernization Fund, which has a national budget of approximately 13 billion euros by 2030.
The Modernization Fund is the European Union’s program aimed to support ten member states to meet 2030 energy targets by helping to modernize their energy systems and improve energy efficiency.
For Romania, the projects eligible are those related to renewable energy, nuclear energy, electricity transmission networks, networks for the distribution and transport of natural gas, and the financing of gas storage projects.
The Modernization Fund is financed, at the EU level, from the sale of 2 % of the total greenhouse gas emission certificates. Romania was allocated nearly 12 % of the total. Given the rising price of the CO2 certificates, the budget of the mechanism (hence the money allocated to Romania) may eventually increase.