The Energy Law will have to be amended to include new provisions regarding energy storage, says Corina Popescu, CEO, Transelectrica.
Until now, Transelectrica has been involved in two projects – pilot storage, but their capacity is very small. “It cannot be said that Romania has a storage program. First, the law on electricity should be amended, as such projects are not under the current legislative framework”, replied Popescu to a question asked by energynomics.ro. “As a medium to long-term development direction, there are projects that can facilitate this shift to clean energy, by facilitating the integration of the unpredictable renewable production into the network. For now, the storage solutions are not necessarily economically feasible. But it is a direction of the future”, also said Popescu.
In Europe, the energy storage projects are much more advanced than in Romania, although in the US everything is moving much faster, told energynomics.ro an expert from Italy. “We are waiting for the results of the first projects in Italy, they are in a slight delay, but they will still be ready this autumn. In the US, the projects were implemented just six months after the announcement. We have already announced the projects for a few years now”, said the quoted expert. “At European level there are development trends of the storage systems. In Italy, Terna, the network operator has already implemented a 50 MW project and another of 70 MW. All the Central and Southeast European countries work together through the Crossbow project to develop renewable resource management solutions across the borders”, added the CRE vicepresident, Mihai Paun.
The energy storage is one of the Crossbow project partnership issues, carried out by eight national transport operators, including Transelectrtica, together with the Romanian Energy Center (CRE) at regional level. Currently, there is an intention at the level of the Commission for Industry from the Chamber of Deputies to amend the energy law, but this is likely to take place after the parliamentary holiday. Changes could include new rules regarding storage, if there are proposals to do so, explained Popescu.