Romania's National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has approved a new grid auction mechanism for the connection of new power plants above 5MW, which will be held annually and provide a 10-year allocation period starting from the year after the auction. The new rules will come into effect on January 1, 2026.
Romania's transmission system operator Transelectrica will publish the available capacity for each grid region by January 15 each year. Daily auctions will be organized from July 1, with the starting price calculated by dividing the total valuation of the grid development by the total available grid capacity.
ANRE president George Niculsecu said the new approach’s competitive mechanism would ensure the energy system provided better predictability.
ANRE has also introduced several changes to the grid connection process, including new financial guarantee rules. Previously required before grid connection, the guarantee is now a prerequisite for the issuance of any new grid connection license over 1MW, equivalent to 5% of the grid connection tariff.
The above security can be in the form of a bank guarantee, a fixed deposit or a direct payment, and can be enforced by the grid operator if the grid connection agreement is not signed, the corresponding amount is not paid, the building permit is not obtained before the statutory deadline, the project is not completed before the grid connection agreement deadline or the investor abandons the project.
The changes apply to all ongoing applications that have not yet received a connection permit. Lawyers at Bucharest-based law firm Nyerges & Partners said the changes make financial guarantees an effective tool to limit artificial grid congestion caused by unviable projects or lack of financing sources.
ANRE also ordered that any grid connection application that has not been granted a permit will be terminated on January 1, 2026, as the new auction takes effect. Lawyers at Nyerges & Partners said that given that the time to complete the grid connection is largely beyond the control of investors and that serious delays often occur, it poses a high risk to launching new investments. The new regulations are expected to incentivize grid operators to speed up the grid connection process.
The Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association said that by 2026, the country is expected to add at least 3GW of renewable energy, of which about 2GW will be solar. Statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency show that by the end of 2022, Romania's solar installed capacity will be 1,414MW.
In July this year, the Romanian Parliament passed a bill requiring prosumers with photovoltaic systems ranging from 10.8 kW to 400 kW to install energy storage systems.
Source：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qJSESctNn2VwbH1HeOuBgA
