Storage in Romania was approached late, fragmented and out of time with the reality of the energy system. Instead of being planned as critical infrastructure, integrated with the development of renewables, networks, prosumers, flexible consumption and balancing services, storage was (and still is) treated too much as a momentary commercial opportunity, argues Dumitru Chisăliță, President of the Smart Energy Association (AEI).
He says that the development of renewables has advanced rapidly, based on absurd incentives, but unsecured, uncoordinated and without coherent planning over time. Solar and wind capacities have been installed, connection projects have multiplied, the number of prosumers has increased, but the elements that were supposed to make the system functional — storage, network adaptation and development, smart metering, digitalization, flexibility, controllable consumption, rapid balancing — have been left far behind.
“The chaotic development of renewables (including prosumers), financed directly or indirectly by the state, has most often been carried out more with the aim of earning money from the sale of equipment and creating opportunities for quick profit for those who have this equipment, all of which have the impact of increasing energy prices on the market.
”Today we find that Romania has learned nothing. The same approach applies to other equipment – batteries. We see today that everyone is being urged to install batteries. There is no discussion about a storage system with a mix of technologies that would ensure the various needs of an energy system. There is no discussion of the need for batteries capable of providing synthetic inertia, frequency stabilization and real support for a grid dominated by renewables. There is only discussion of batteries. Again, the goal will not be to modernize the functional energy system and cheap energy, only in speech. It is serious that even people of good faith end up being manipulated, misinformed and pushed to serve the interests of groups that take advantage of the chaos and lack of strategy in the Romanian system. Thus, a lobby is created for the sale/import of batteries, not very sophisticated batteries, which will require in a few years to sell/import batteries again to stabilize the “imbalances produced by the current batteries.” It is a lobby so that some can profit from the out-of-phase operation between energy production and consumption in Romania. And so we will see in 2-3 years that a new type of “smart guys” in energy will appear, and prices will continue to rise for the final consumer”, says the analyst.
Romania has a system with a lot of intermittent production, but with little control capacity. “In such a system, storage is not a luxury. It is the minimum condition for renewable energy not to become a source of volatility. Without storage systems (a mix of technologies, not just batteries) correctly located, correctly sized and operated in the interest of the energy system, Romania ends up producing cheap energy when it does not need it and importing expensive energy when it does.
“More seriously, the delay in storage has created fertile ground for a diversion of purpose. Instead of batteries being promoted primarily as tools for reducing prices, reducing imbalances, limiting imports at peak times and increasing energy security, they are often seen as a simple business opportunity. For some actors, storage does not mean system stability, but the sale of equipment. It does not mean reducing costs for the consumer, but commissions, commercial margins, fast projects and profit from volatility”, points out Dumitru Chisăliță.
Romania risks remaining a battery importer
Romania risks massively importing “any kind of batteries”, without a clear hierarchy of technological quality, without firm requirements regarding their role in the system and without a real correlation with the needs of the network. If the only logic becomes “to sell batteries” or “to consume the money from the PNRR”, then storage is no longer energy policy, but a sales market.
And a sales market does not guarantee energy security. A battery can reduce prices if it is intelligently integrated. But the same battery can amplify private profit from imbalance if it is operated exclusively for arbitrage. It can buy cheap energy at noon and sell it expensively in the evening, without the benefit reaching the consumer structurally. In this case, the battery does not correct the system, but monetizes its defects, the AEI analysis also shows.
Here is the real danger that Romania will end up financing a new profit industry at the expense of its own energy disorder. If storage is developed only to speculate on price differences created by lack of planning, then we are not talking about modernization, but about capturing rent generated by chaos, chaos generated in turn by the illusion that the development of renewables solves the problems of the energy system. The worse the system is built, the greater the opportunities for arbitrage. The more pronounced the volatility, the higher the profits of some operators can be.
This is a dangerous logic, private profit comes to depend on maintaining the imbalance, not eliminating it. A responsible state should pursue the exact opposite, batteries must reduce volatility, not just profit from it. They must reduce price peaks, not just exploit them. They must reduce expensive imports, not just participate in them. They must secure the system, not create a new intermediary market.
In Romania, however, the discussion about storage is often disconnected from the essential questions: What storage mix do we develop? Who is the integrator? Where are batteries needed? What congestions do they need to solve? What renewable capacities do they need to secure? What system services do they need to provide? What real savings do they produce for the consumer? What technological standard should be imposed? What performance obligations should beneficiaries have? Without clear answers, storage becomes a slogan. And the slogan can be very profitable, but not for consumers.
Romania does not only need MW in batteries. It needs MW useful to the system. It needs capacities that work in the logic of energy security, of reducing prices, not just in the logic of financial yield. It needs batteries that support the grid, reduce imbalances, increase the integration of renewables and decrease the total costs of the system.
Otherwise, we will repeat the mistake of renewables, many capacities, weak integration, contradictory effects, higher prices, etc. The development of renewables without storage has already led to price cannibalization in certain intervals, cheap exports, pressure on networks and expensive imports during peak hours. If batteries are developed haphazardly, they will not correct this problem, but will turn it into a new business model.
The real question is who controls their real purpose, not their declared one. If the purpose is to reduce the final price, secure the system and integrate renewables efficiently, then storage is the solution. If the purpose is to sell equipment, access financing, collect commissions and profit from volatility, then storage becomes just another expression of energy governance failure.
Romania is again at a critical point. It can transform storage into a pillar of energy security or it can transform it into a new speculative market. It can use batteries to reduce system costs or it can allow them to be used to extract profit from system costs, on the “backs of people”. It can build planned or it can continue to improvise.
Without a clear strategy, without technical criteria and without integrating storage into a coherent energy development plan, Romania risks not building real flexibility, but only buying batteries. And the difference between the two is fundamental. Flexibility means a system capable of absorbing surplus cheap energy, reducing expensive imports during peak hours, stabilizing the grid and reducing the structural costs of electricity. It means energy security, stability and economic efficiency. In contrast, batteries developed chaotically, without coordination and operated exclusively for commercial arbitrage, risk becoming just another source of commissions and speculative profits. Instead of reducing volatility, they can end up taking advantage of it. Instead of correcting system imbalances, they can transform these imbalances into a business model. This is where the real stakes lie. Flexibility reduces costs for the economy and consumers. Batteries sold without a strategy generate primarily commercial margins. Flexibility increases the state’s energy security. Batteries operated exclusively speculatively can increase dependence on market volatility. Flexibility is strategic infrastructure. Batteries treated only as a business become simple financial assets. In a healthy model, the end consumer should be the main beneficiary of storage, through more stable prices, fewer expensive imports and efficient integration of renewables. In the model that is now starting to take shape in Romania, the beneficiary risks being primarily the intermediary who monetizes the imbalances created by the lack of planning. Therefore, the real question is not how many batteries Romania will install in the coming years. The essential question is whether Romania is building a smarter energy system or just a new profit market fueled by its own energy chaos.
“Romania must not fall again, as happened with renewables, into the trap of confusing the installation of batteries with the modernization of the energy system. Modernization does not mean adding new equipment to a poorly coordinated system. Modernization means changing the logic of the system. Currently, Romania risks doing exactly the opposite, importing new technology to manage an old chaos. And if this continues, the consumer will not see real price drops, but only a new round of investments that produce private gains and public costs. Storage must be the answer to the price problem, not a sophisticated method to take advantage of the high price. This is the line that must be firmly drawn by those who lead Romania,” concludes the AEI analyst.
