Romania’s renewable energy associations have called on the country’s energy regulator, ANRE, to slash the required financial guarantee for standalone battery projects sixfold, from EUR 30,000 per MW of installed capacity to EUR 5,000 per MW. They claim the “excessive” guarantee amount hinders investment in energy storage amid increasing flexibility needs.
The current regulation, issued by the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) this summer, treats energy storage projects and new power generation plants equally, despite considerable differences in investment profile, revenue structure, and economic risks, according to the Romanian Wind Energy Association (RWEA) and the Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association (RPIA), Economica reported.
“Independent (standalone) electricity storage facilities have a distinct technical and functional specificity compared to electricity generation capacities. Consequently, the investment profile, revenue structure, and related economic risks differ considerably and require a proportionate approach in terms of the financial guarantee related to the issuance of the establishment authorization,” according to RWEA and RPIA.
Battery projects would face a disproportionate financial burden if treated equally as power generation plants
The uniform treatment creates an unequal financial burden for standalone storage projects, which may affect their economic viability and create an additional barrier to their development, amid the increased need for flexibility and at a time when more and more investors plan to install large-scale batteries, they claim.
The two associations have sent an amendment to ANRE calling for the required financial guarantee for standalone battery energy storage projects to be set at EUR 5/kW of installed capacity, down from EUR 30/kW.
Romania has tightened the rules for energy projects in an attempt to filter out “serious” investors from “speculators.” Other measures include raising the financial guarantee for grid connection from 5% of the connection fee to 20% and introducing auctions to allocate grid capacity.
Romania’s total battery storage capacity currently stands at about 2.31 GWh and is expected to reach 4 GWh by the end of 2027, according to Economica’s report.
