Imbalances in electricity distribution grids caused by photovoltaic generation at peak hours are a reality faced by all developed economies, not just Romania, said Pavel Stan, FEL Romania Board Member and Community Manager.
One possible solution is generation for self-consumption without grid feed-in, a sustainable alternative that allows companies to optimise their energy consumption without putting additional pressure on national grids. “Self-consumption generation is ideal because it does not involve grid feed-in charges. You can adapt your consumption according to your own needs and the specifics of your business. Over time, you end up amortising the investment, and the energy generated afterwards becomes clean profit,” Stan said at the “Energy Day” conference organised by Energynomics within the Green Energy Expo & Romenvirotec 2025.
He added that the modern prosumer is not just photovoltaic panels on the roof. There are hybrid solutions, with storage, or even systems dedicated exclusively to self-consumption, which offer flexibility in the purchase and use of energy, depending on market prices.
“For any entity that produces a finished good and has considerable energy consumption, the idea of becoming a prosumer, without grid injection, is exceptional,” adds Stan.
Moreover, solutions can also come from distribution operators. Some of them have even started to install smart meters on every consumer in the network, on their own initiative, believing that this investment is less than the losses generated by imbalances.
“A simple step any factory can take is to notify their supplier and local distribution operator when they intend to install a production system. In addition, an additional meter can be added, the cost of which is tiny, less than 0.5% of the total investment, but with a major impact in making consumption more efficient,” he said.
He said that it is very important to protect the vulnerable consumer, and Romania is surprisingly well positioned, according to World Energy Council standards, in terms of energy fairness, with the capping scheme reflecting the concern for the vulnerable consumer.
This principle should therefore be preserved as part of the national energy profile, but without unfairly penalising other economic sectors. In his view, almost all sectors, from construction to energy distribution and supply, have been affected by recent legislative decisions on capping. However, not every recipient of funds to install photovoltaic panels should automatically be considered a vulnerable consumer. In his view, vulnerable consumers are those who cannot pay their energy bills, in a society where access to electricity should be recognised as a fundamental right alongside housing, food, water and security.
“In these circumstances, if someone who has worked all their life and now, on retirement, can’t afford to cover their electricity bill, I think it’s only fair to do something about it. But someone who has built a 300,000 euros worth house, on which he put panels and now injects into the grid and has to pay a tariff in imbalance, is not vulnerable, it means he didn’t know what he was doing,” Stan added.
The conference „Energy Day at Green Energy Expo & Romenvirotec” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners Elektra Renewable Support, LONGi, SolaX Power and with the involvement of HENRO, COGEN România, CIGRE România and FEL România.