Replacing coal with wood
Romania said it will stop mining coal by 2032 and replace conventional power plants by then. The current strategy is to switch to renewable wood pallets, which will reduce the power plants' CO2 emissions by more than 90 percent.
The Romanian government and Norwegian wood pellet manufacturer Arbaflame have signed a letter of intent to convert coal-fired power plants to the company's Arbacore pellets.
Arbacore pellets are specifically designed to replace or blend with fossil fuels in coal-fired power plants as they share many of the properties of coal. The pellets have many advantages, including about 40 % more energy per cubic metre. Only minor modifications are required to use existing equipment, such as for crushing and combustion.
The first power plant to use Arbacore pellets will be the 300 MW Paroşeni power plant. The move can be seen as a way to decarbonise the power sector and achieve a just transition.
More information can be found here