State-owned Hidroelectrica becomes energy market leader in Romania

Romania's Hidroelectrica became the largest power producer nationwide in 2013, with 28.2 percent market share, up from 22.8 percent in 2012, according to a latest report released by the National Energy Regulatory Authority. The state-owned hydroelectric company outperformed Oltenia Energy Company, a brown coal-fired electricity producer, which accounted for 20.8 percent of the market last year, after having been the top Romanian power producer in 2012 with 30.4 percent of the market. Other major power producers included Nuclearelectrica with 20.6 percent market share, OMV Petrom with 6.3 percent, CE Hunedoara with 5.2 percent and Electrocentrale Bucharest with 4.6 percent. The renewable sources energy producers reach a market share of more than 7 percent, with Czech CEZ (1.43 percent) and Italian Enel (1.17 percent) as the biggest such producers, according to the report. Romanian power consumption went down 5 percent to 49.69 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2013, from 52.36 TWh in previous year, while the electricity production shrank nearly 2 percent from 56.71 TWh to 55.78 TWh. The Romanian power exports more than doubled to 2.47 TWh from merely 1.15 TWh in 2012, while power imports dropped by 67 percent to 0.45 TWh as compared to 1.40 TWh in previous year. Hidroelectrica owns over 200 power plants and pumping stations with a total installed capacity of 6,335 megawatt and an annual average power production of 19.772 gigawatt, covering 22 to 33 percent of the total national output of the eastern European country.