Global energy and utilities’ trading activity reached a record high in 2018, a 28% increase in total transaction value to $256.3 billion and a total of 546 transactions, shows the EY report Power transactions and trends Q4 2018.

Transactions in Europe attracted most of the value of energy and utilities transactions in 2018, with USD 126.5 billion, and a 2.5-fold increase from USD 50.3 billion in 2017. Energy renewable business continued to fuel the volume of transactions – 253 transactions representing 46% of the total volume in all regions and 19% of the total value of transactions (48.3 billion dollars). In 2018, five transactions involving integrated utilities, each worth more than USD 1 billion, generated USD 32 billion (32%) of the total value of transactions in the US.

Energy market reforms in the European Union (EU), including increasing targets for the share of renewable energy sources by 2030, imposing CO2 emission limits on the transport industry and removing capacity bonuses for fossil fuel-based electricity, aim at accelerating the transition towards green energy.

„Also in Romania we see corporate initiatives to promote electric vehicles and infrastructure to load them. The storage of electricity has gained a high interest and awaits a proper regulatory framework for investment remuneration. New wind turbines with higher dimensions/ capacities and lower specific investment (which will lead to lower production costs) are in advanced analytical phases. We are looking for spectacular deals with existing projects in the context of the need for integration on vertical production-supply. Against the backdrop of the absence of large centralized projects that should cover decommissioning of obsolete capacities, we will see a tendency to decentralize electricity production, with prosumers leading. Perhaps the first will be the non-resident consumers,” said Valeriu Binig, Senior Advisor of EY Romania.