Paradigm shift of the grid connection regulation in Romania

As everybody knows, grid connection is a big challenge, perhaps the biggest challenge, the renewables encounter nowadays in Romania and elsewhere. According to the data available on the Romanian TSO website, over 20 GW of wind and solar projects seem to have obtained grid connection endorsement (Romanian: aviz tehnic de racordare – “ATR”) to the extent the total installed capacity in the country is about 18.5 GW and the consumption does not expect a serious take-off in the foreseeable future. An even bigger capacity might be in the queue to obtain ATR.

It is, therefore, obvious that not all these projects would be built, because that would multiply the current installed capacity in Romania in the next few years or so by a factor of 3 or 4. A great number of these projects will fail to come to life from various reasons – some would be technically or legally flawed, some others might not be feasible from a cost perspective, others will not obtain financing, etc.

The race is on, as most of these new projects are just still on paper – apparently, only 578 MW of new wind and solar projects were connected to the grid in 2023 and 25 MW in 2022. Romania’s target is to install 10 GW of new (onshore) wind and solar capacity by 2030 and we are still very far from it.

Author of article: Cosmin Stăvaru – Partner

You can read the full article here.