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Romania’s new rules for granting grid connection approvals, aimed at fending off “speculative” energy projects, are set to take effect this year. The new capacity allocation mechanism, including auctions and higher financial guarantees, will replace the existing “first come, first served” model, which officials say has led to the issuance of approvals for capacities far exceeding the country’s needs and blocked “serious” investors from accessing the grid.
The country’s transmission system operator (TSO), Transelectrica, will launch auctions for connecting new electricity generation and energy storage capacities in late October. They will cover a 10-year allocation period, starting in 2028, Profit.ro reported.
The purpose of the new allocation system is to curb the high volume of connection requests, filter out serious projects from speculative ones, and increase the revenues available for investment in grid expansion and upgrades, according to the report.
Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan recently stated that as much as 90% of technical grid connection approvals issued in the last three years were for speculative projects, whose developers did not intend to build power plants but instead resell the permits for profit. He also said that many of these approvals would have to be revoked.
Bolojan: 90% of technical grid connection approvals are for speculative projects
Romania’s economy needs about 9,000 MW of capacity. However, technical grid connection approvals had been issued for over 78,000 MW by the end of 2025, a figure that later increased to 80,000 MW, according to Bolojan.
The new rules were introduced through a regulation initiated by the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) in 2024 and amended in early 2026.
Daily auctions will be held from October 30
By the end of June, Transelectrica is expected to complete a study to determine available grid connection capacity, with developers required to submit allocation requests by July 14. By October 23, the TSO will update the study to include the necessary network upgrades and publish the final list of auction participants. Daily auctions will begin on October 30, 2026.
The value of the auction participation guarantee is determined by multiplying the requested capacity, expressed in megawatts, by 1% of the auction’s starting price. However, ANRE has drafted a request to set the value at EUR 20,000 per MW of installed power for auctions in 2026.
ANRE has also proposed increasing the financial guarantee for issuing a connection approval from 5% to 20% of the grid connection fee, according to earlier reports.
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