Batteries mandatory for prosumers in Romania

Prosumers in Romania will be obligated to install storage facilities according to a law adopted by the country’s parliament.

The obligation to install batteries is for new owners of power plants for self-consumption with a capacity between 10.8 kW and 400 kW.

Existing prosumers with facilities between 3 kW and 400 kW will have to do the same by December 31, 2027. If they don’t install storage, their possibility to deliver electricity to the grid would be limited to 3 kW.

The battery system must match at least 30% of the capacity of the facilities between 3 kW and 200 kW and at least 50% of the facilities between 200 kW and 400 kW.

Romania joined the group of gigawatt-scale markets in 2023

Back in January, Minister of Environment, Water and Forests Mircea Fechet expressed hope that subsidy schemes in Romania wouldn’t stop until solar panels are installed on the last roof in Romania.

Romania joined the gigawatt-scale markets in 2023 in terms of newly installed photovoltaic capacity per year. The number of prosumers—households, firms, and institutions—has surpassed 100,000, compared to just 1,634 at the end of 2020. The combined capacity of their installations is estimated at more than 1.4 GW.

The combined capacity of prosumers’ installations is 1.7 GW

At the end of April, the number has reached almost 130,000, with a total installed capacity of 1.7 GW.

In April, Sweden-based Monsson inaugurated a 24 MWh battery energy storage system – the biggest in Romania. It is the first phase of 216 MWh planned in total.

“Storage is both energy consumption and energy production and should be treated and regulated as such and, why not, prioritised,” Vice-President of Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) Gabriel Andronache said at the inauguration.