Romania's new president is sworn in as a political crisis eases, but challenges loom
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania's newly elected president Nicusor Dan was officially sworn in on Monday, ushering in a tentative close to the worst political crisis to grip the European Union country in decades after the annulment of the previous election. But multiple challenges lie ahead.
Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former mayor of the capital, Bucharest, decisively won the tense rerun in a runoff on May 18, beating his hard-right opponent George Simion, who later challenged the results at a top court, but was rejected last week.
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New US tariffs on steel and aluminium to come into force
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Business of Fashion
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- Business of Fashion
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They should compel shipowners and the fuel producers and bunkering companies supplying them to substitute renewable and low-carbon fuels, including expensive-to-produce e-methanol, in place of fossil-derived fuels. Demand for low-carbon hydrogen should also arise in the power sector, with more electrification of transport and industry and increasing demand for electricity produced from renewable energy systems. As the price of renewable power continues to decline, it will make hydrogen more competitive because much of its cost is based on electricity prices. Where seasonal power demand variations occur, it can play a critical role in seasonal storage. In fact, hydrogen production and storage could help utilities to hedge against low power prices in Europe, where renewable energy has exposed them to very low and even negative prices. Carrots and sticks for domestic markets For MENA countries, the prospects for large-scale green hydrogen exports look increasingly unlikely in the near future. Yet countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already invested a lot and risk stranded assets. The question is critical for Saudi Arabia, where the biggest electrolyser production in the world will launch at NEOM next year, and this hydrogen will need to find 100% offtake for 600 tonnes per day produced. 'To have it all go out on ships is very ambitious,' said Jan Haizmann. 'They will have to think about what to do with the remainder, as export opportunities may not be realized.' The countries are already large consumers of hydrogen in their refining and chemicals industries. They have green hydrogen targets in place and plan to develop domestic demand for green and blue (with carbon capture) hydrogen. "Countries in the region need to build their own internal markets with clear rules and binding targets that drive demand," said Haizmann. And he emphasized that they will likely need incentives to create demand. They will need 'carrots and sticks', including binding targets that compel companies to procure certain volumes of low carbon fuels for their operations or face penalties, because a purely voluntary system that mostly relies on export scenarios is unlikely to work. As an example, he pointed to the incentives that, over time, supported the rise of renewable energy systems in many regions. 'With every new technology, there is a need to incentivize it to get to high volumes, and when high volumes are achieved, then prices come down,' he said. 'The production opportunities for hydrogen in MENA are fantastic, almost unrivalled, because of the sunshine here,' he said. 'But it doesn't remove the need to do something to realize the opportunities.' 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