SMEs are key to the market economy in Romania and Europe, playing a central role in supporting economic development. “SMEs support each country’s market economy and we focus a lot on educating from an energy supplier point of view”, explained Cosmin Cheran, General Manager of Think Blu Solution, at the conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025”.
A critical issue for SMEs in the current energy market is the need for predictability and the transition to renewable energy. “SMEs need to have predictability in terms of financial predictability, not to stay in the market when certain imbalances, certain shocks occur,” emphasised Cheran. That’s why his company is emphasising renewable energy solutions, which will enable greater energy security for these firms.
As a challenge, the Think Blu Solution representative referred to strengthening efforts to evenly distribute energy storage capacity across the country to minimise losses in the transmission and distribution grid. “Maybe it would be interesting to make storage in all [transformer] stations as small as possible, maybe 5-10 MW. For some localities, 10 MW is likely to allow operation for a few days, even without any problems,” Cheran suggested.
Energy price caps offer no long-term security
Although the energy price cap of 1 leu/kWh was seen as a beneficial measure, there are significant risks for consumers. “We have to be very careful. We don’t know what will happen from 1 April,” warns Cheran.
Consumer reluctance to switch energy supplier is a major challenge, even though market prices have been below the capped tariff. “In 2024, the vast majority of energy prices were well below this 1 leu per kW.” This trend may cause consumers to remain trapped in unfavourable contracts without exploring more favourable options.
Another major risk is rising prices and supply difficulties similar to 2022. “I would hope that on 1 April we don’t feel that shock we had in 2022, when we couldn’t find inverters, we couldn’t find smart meters, we couldn’t find panels,” Cheran explained, stressing that such a situation could destabilise large projects.
2025: Prospects for renewable energy development
It is expected that 2025 will bring a significant expansion of renewable energy projects, mainly due to investments in photovoltaic parks and storage systems. “For sure, 2025 will be beyond 2024 for us and the whole market,” says Cheran. Authorisations for large projects are already available, but their implementation is delayed by bureaucratic processes.
A major obstacle is the slow pace of funding. “We’re seeing that 2025, really at the beginning of the year, we’re seeing an improvement in terms of funding and those responses,” Cheran says. However, bureaucratic problems remain, affecting the pace of investment. “We don’t want to wait a year and a half until the first contract has been signed, as was the case with the NRRP in the past,” he warns.
For the energy market to develop sustainably, energy education for SMEs, efficiently distributed storage solutions and optimised administrative processes are needed. 2025 looks set to be a promising year for renewable energy, but its success depends on cutting red tape and ensuring financial predictability for all actors involved.
The conference “Romanian Energy Market – Facts of 2025” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Alive Capital, Elektra Renewable Support, Enevo Group, Hidroelectrica, Nano Energies. Software Media WEBUS 4 ENERGY, Think Blu Solution.