Romania should have, in total, at the end of next year, storage capacities of at least 2,500 MW, and by 2026 to exceed 5,000 MW, according to the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja.

“In total, at the end of next year we should have storage capacities of at least 2,500 MW, and by 2026 we should exceed 5,000 MW. These targets are ambitious, but they are aligned with Transelectrica’s recommendations and analyses, which show a need for storage of at least 4,000 MW. Last but not least, we resumed the Tarniţa-Lăpusteşti pumped storage hydropower plant project and we constantly support this type of investment, which will ensure essential services for the national energy system,” the minister wrote on Facebook.

He emphasized that the investments attracted in the last year in the national energy system were 13.6 billion euros, non-refundable money, more than in all the years after 1989.

“The sad reality is that for three decades the Romanian state invested extremely little in the national energy system. In the last year, we managed to attract 13.6 billion euros for the sector, non-refundable European money. More than in all the years after 1989. These investments will not be completed from today to tomorrow and many times not even from one year to another,” Burduja pointed out.

He mentioned that these days there were high energy prices because we produce too little, in the context in which Romania has lost half of its production capacity in the band since 1989 in these three decades, because we do not have access to a sufficient interconnection capacity , being major works in Hungary and beyond, because the Tarniţa-Lăpuşteşti pumped storage hydropower plant was not ready and investments in storage have only begun to be encouraged in the last year.

“Immediately after assuming the mandate of the minister, I constantly showed that storage is the zero priority of the national energy sector. What did we do in a single year? We allocated 80 million euros from the PNRR for the storage scheme, from which we anticipate that we will conclude contracts for 1,800 MW of storage. The projects are under evaluation and we anticipate the signing of the contracts in September of this year. PNRR. From the Modernization Fund, we have prepared a new financing scheme of up to 300 million euros, 150 million each for this year and next year, which will mean at least 3,000 MW of storage – we are going to launch this autumn, immediately after obtaining the approvals from the European Commission,” explained Burduja.

He added that in the two calls from the Modernization Fund, which are open at the moment and which on Tuesday were extended by 30 days following market requests – energy production with and without self-consumption – 10% additional points were awarded for the first time for storage (total budget 815 million euros) and it is estimated that at least another 500 MW of storage will be commissioned through these calls.

Also, in the Electric-Up 2 program – budget 450 million lei – the mandatory storage of 30% of the installed power was introduced for the first time, and for 50% extra points are given (10%).

On the other hand, the Minister of Energy conveyed, regarding the prices on the PZU (Market for the Next Day), that this market has also recorded periods of significant price increases, influenced by several factors, such as meteorological conditions, the demand for energy, availability of production resources and external economic factors.

“Except for the war period, when the energy crisis began on the continent, examples of price increases on PZU, due to various factors (especially frost and low hydraulics), are: the end of January – the beginning of February of 2017, when the energy traded at 700 lei/MWh during peak hours (very high price during that period), compared to normal prices of 200-250 lei/MWh; mid-December 2020 (Never above 700 lei/MWh). in the recent period, there was no period of extreme weather conditions (either frost or heatwave) that lasted more than 7-10 days.At the same time, the high prices are only for 2-3 intervals of the day, which determine the increase the average daily price,” said Sebastian Burduja.