Island, interested in developing several heating projects in Romania by capitalizing geothermal energy

In the west of Romania there are several areas - in Arad, Timisoara, Oradea - where there is potential for creating what we have done in any city in Island. That is thermal energy from the thermal waters coming from the depths of the earth. It is a great potential and it is a field where I believe we can contribute to the development of the Romanian and the European Union society, Island's minister said, adding that such a project had already been developed in Hungary.

He underscored that Romania needed in the first place a project through which a detailed map of the areas with geothermal potential should be drawn up.

Concerning the financing sources, he showed that a part of the non-refundable funds earmarked for Romania by the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) - Norway, Island and Liechtenstein - could be employed.

You need money, but I suggested that a part of the money earmarked by EEA be used for this objective. If we built a project serving between 80,000 and 100,000 people, we would reduce the CO2 emissions by 5,000 tonnes, Össur Skarpheoinsson said.

He explained that Island was affected by global warming and the ice meltdowns in the arctic areas.

As far as we are concerned, as Romanian side, we shall see how we can take out of this fund a larger amount of money for geothermal projects and how we can, as Mr Minister said, draw up the resource map so that we can industrialize in a sustainable and ecologic manner,' Minister Teodor Baconschi said, in his turn.

Moreover, he showed that Romania's Government thanked Island for making the 'European and brave' gesture of liberalizing the labour market for Romanian workers. At the same time, Minister Baconschi voiced Romania's complete support for the process of Island's accession to the European Union.

'We shall encourage a greater volume of economic exchanges, Mr Viorel Ardelean, our future ambassador in Copenhagen, will also cover the relation with Island and we hope the political dialogue continues both in the proximity of the coming NATO Summit of Chicago and also in common interest fields such as the European accession. We very vocally and with all our conviction support Island's accession and, at the same time, the issues related with the green energy and with the investments in public policies for the support of family and natality, fields in which Island is a champion, too,' Baconschi said.

Starting on January 1, 2012, Island has completely liberalized the labour market for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens.