The number of prosumers is very large and most of the questions on the renewables side addressed to the Energy Regulatory Authority come from them, because there are many unknown things, said Viorel Alicuş, director of ANRE, on Wednesday in a specialized conference.

“Their number is very high. We had, at the end of 2022, 40,000. But the pace of commissioning is very high and the pressure on the network, on the part of the distributor, is just as high. There is probably also a logistics problem at the distributor, but also the number of unknowns at this level and the number of questions….from the simple question “how do I connect if I want to produce 3 KW?”(…) So here, so to speak, we have a plaethora of problems. At least on the renewable side from the prosumers, there are 99%. We started with 5 questions per month and we are at 500 questions per month and growing,” Alicuş said, according to Agerpres.

He also stated that, when the regulations are made, ANRE reps try to take into account the previous experience, but the situations are very diverse and are difficult to capture in a regulation.

“However, we still try to make the regulations (…) we try to learn from the previous experience. You know that in the period 2011-2013 there was a similar process of, let’s say, competition on capacity… And then, the regulations, like as they are in the current phase, at least for the connection phase, they tried to translate from the previous experience so as to avoid unpleasant situations when connecting. However, the situations are very diverse and it is difficult to capture in a regulation the multitude of possible conflicts at the connection. What we are trying to do is to simplify, using the provisions of the primary legislation, but also what is currently in the European regulation and what is being prepared, because a whole package of regulations is coming again that tries to simplify the connection, precisely to stimulate the installation of new capacities in renewable sources,” explained the director of ANRE at ZF Power Summit 2023.

Alicuş emphasized the need to strengthen the network, because “we have to think that we still have to evacuate our power”, in order not to end up in a situation where an installation is connected and cannot evacuate.

“Or, for this we have to look a little where we connect. Everyone wants to connect to wind turbines in areas with acceptable wind speed, so that the income is evident in the parameters of the project. Unfortunately, the network is limited and this is where the reinforcements of network that can last and must be taken into account. On the other hand, there is already a European regulation, if I’m not mistaken it has also become law, which imposes the so-called concept of “go-to place”, maybe they changed its name, but this means planning and establishing the exact locations where renewables can be installed and it must be taken into account and transposed into the primary legislation … As the regulation is currently written, it is the decision of the member state, it is a matter of planning. The state must start and determine where it is of interest to install renewable sources to avoid possible congestion, such as if we would like to put another 1,000 megawatts in Dobrogea, but we have nowhere to evacuate, at least not at present. This is a concept, let’s say, rational, which must be put into practice in Romania as well, because based on this concept the capacities are auctioned, you know exactly where you are going and the connection procedures can also be simplified. But this is a matter for the future,” said the ANRE official.

He made an estimate that in the next three years renewable capacities of approximately 3,000-4,000 MW should come into operation.