New investors in the renewable energy sector could be forced to invest in storage capacity, and ANRE will conduct, with the support of the World Bank, a study to show Romania’s storage needs, the vice president of the National Regulatory Authority (ANRE), Zoltan Nagy-Bege, according to Agerpres.
“Last week we had a meeting with World Bank representatives and discussed the issues where we feel the need for advice. Among the topics is the assessment of storage needs from the perspective of our capacity assumed by PNIESC, those 6.9 GW of renewable energy, how much storage Romania needs to integrate the new 6.9 GW capacities and I think we have a pretty good chance of receiving their support, because the World Bank representatives said that it is an important and interesting topic and we will probably have a consultation from them and in a year, maybe a year and a half, have a consistent study that will show us what is needed,” said the ANRE official.
According to him, the authority will adapt the legislation so that those who want to invest in storage capacities with batteries do not find obstacles from this point of view.
“The balancing regulation has already been amended to allow for these investments and to allow participation in the balancing market with these capacities. It’s only a matter of time before we see whether or not we need to force new investors in renewables to also have storage,” Nagy-Bege said.
In his opinion, the 6.9 GW target that Romania has assumed through the National Integrated Energy Plan for Climate Change is an ambitious one.
“6.9 GW without a support scheme will certainly be a rather interesting challenge, although there are already a few technologies that have reached maturity, and their cost does not imply a support scheme and here I am referring to wind and solar. “At least for onshore wind turbines. The country’s offshore potential should not be neglected. The necessary investments are significantly higher than onshore wind turbines, but the efficiency is also higher,” also said the vice-president of ANRE.
