Romania's Hidroelectrica and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - U.S. Department of Energy have initialled a memorandum that puts Romania at the forefront of Europe in the storage of green energy through pumped storage hydropower plants (PSH) throughout the Carpathian chain, Romania's Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja announced on Monday.

'Today, in Warsaw, on the sidelines of the Three Seas Summit, I had an excellent, extensive bilateral meeting with my ministerial counterpart from the United States of America, Christopher Allen Wright, secretary of energy. A graduate of the prestigious universities of MIT and Berkeley, he is one of the most respected personalities in the US energy sector, a follower of a pragmatic line, identical to my position: we need safe, cheap and clean energy - in that order of priorities. It was an essential discussion for the energy future of Romania and our region. We reaffirmed the common commitment to the development of strategic projects that will bring us closer to a major goal: transforming Romania into a strong, resilient and sustainable regional energy hub, under a strategic partnership with the United States of America,' Burduja said in a social media post on Monday.

According to the minister, the agenda of the discussions included small modular reactors (SMRs) at Doicesti,Romania, as the future of safe and clean nuclear energy, with state-of-the-art American technology (NuScale); Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant - a strategic project for which we signed the EPCM contract at the end of last year, including with two large American companies (Fluor and Sargent & Lundy); the HVDC project - the high-voltage DC interconnector, vital to the integration of renewables and the strengthening of the grid, to which Fluor is also a part.

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) plants were also addressed, along with the development of a chain of such 'green batteries' in the Carpathian Arc, under the collaboration between Hidroelectrica and the prestigious National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - U.S. Department of Energy.

'I am announcing for the first time that last weeks we signed a memorandum between NREL and Hidroelectrica, an approach that puts Romania at the forefront of Europe in the storage of green energy through pumped storage hydropower plants throughout the Carpathian chain. The pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, developed with American support, follow,' wrote Burduja.

Also discussed in Warsaw were geothermal energy - ELCEN's agreement with American partners for mapping and developing geothermal potential in Bucharest, a project that will be backed from the Modernisation Fund - and Romania's potential for natural gas production.

'Our discussion started from the reality that Europe is experiencing today: an increase in energy prices due to the lack of interconnection among countries; the shock therapy of shutting down coal-fired power plants without viable alternatives; costs of CO2 certificates, which affect competitiveness. America knows: a strong and competitive Europe is a guarantor of global stability. For that, we need to move from the Green Deal to the Smart Deal. Romania takes up its strategic partnership with the U.S. at the political and military level, and takes it to the vital business area, where the economic future and energy security are being built. As I said before, the bilateral relationship between Romania and the U.S. in the energy sector is exceptional, as evidenced by today's meeting. Major projects were, in fact, started during the first Trump administration. We reaffirmed our determination to work together in the spirit of the democratic values and economic freedom that define the U.S.-Romania alliance. Together, Romania and the United States are opening a new chapter in our strategic energy partnership. I am more confident than ever in the common future of safe, cheap and clean energy - I repeat, in that order of priorities.' AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Daniel Badea; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)