The government says it expects around 1,500 MW in new renewable generation capacity by the end of this year. The market sees less than 600 MW newly installed this year, according to company representatives attending the Romanian Renewable Energy Summit 2024, organised by Govnet. For all the difference in outlook, the renewables market is in its best period in a decade and the prospects for the coming years are very encouraging.

At the end of Q3, there were only 300 MW of new PV capacity commissioned, the Chief of Staff at the Minister of Energy Dragoș Roibu confirmed, “but by the end of the year our data shows that about 1,500 MW more will be commissioned, mostly in solar and a little in wind. The official urged companies to prepare for a new call for projects for the construction of storage facilities through the Modernisation Fund. Before the end of this year, “€150 million will be available for behind-the-meter storage for existing parks or those under construction, and next year in spring we will launch another call for €150 million for storage, but in stand-alone installations,” Dragoș Roibu announced.

Mirel Jarnea, Business Development Manager at LONGi Solar, announced that this year it has delivered solar panels totalling around 700 MW. By 2025, LONGi Solar anticipates that it will deliver panels totalling more than 1 GW. For his part, Adrian Paraschiv, Country Manager at Photomate Romania, anticipates that around 150 MW of photovoltaics will be finalised in the latter part of the year.

Florin Pop, CEO of EnergoBit, spoke about 150 MW energised in 2024 and about 700 MW energised in 2025. “EnergoBit has so far worked 15,402 MW in ATRs and I expect 10-15% of this volume to become real projects,” said Florin Pop.

Ciprian Glodeanu, Equity Partner at Glodeanu Partners, announced that his firm has projects totalling 600 MW for which it is “waiting for the authorisation to set up by the end of the year”. On the other hand, “we have 4-5 GW in agro-voltaic projects that are blocked by the Ministry of Agriculture illegally and without any explanation”, Glodeanu complained.

Many of those involved in construction activities (EPCs) referred to the less well known difficulties on the ground: the lack of cadastre, difficult relations with public authorities and agencies (e.g. ANIF), the long time needed to obtain any authorisation (e.g. road hardening), but also to obtain high voltage equipment (up to 18 months!). Above all, the main problem is the limited capacity of the transmission and distribution networks to integrate new green generation capacity. “We have no visibility on grid investment from Transelectrica,” said Sebastian Enache, vice-president of RWEA.