Cristina Prună organized, at the Parliament, a round table on the topic of energy prosumers. The debate aimed to create solutions to the future challenges in terms of the integration of prosumers into the national energy system, the continuation of funding programs from European sources and funding for investments in transmission and distribution networks without affecting consumer bills.
The debate brought together representatives of the Government, prosumers, energy suppliers and distributors, Transelectrica, ANRE and AFM, according to Financialintelligence.ro.
The number of prosumers has grown strongly in Romania. According to the estimates of the vice-president of ANRE, in March next year we will reach 2,000 MW installed. Estimates for the end of this year were already at 100,000 prosumers with 1,500 MW installed (equivalent to the installed power of the two reactors at Cernavodă). Prosumers have emerged despite some systemic problems, but there have also been some important steps that have been taken, including at the legislative level: the definition of the prosumer, the framework for quantitative compensation, the recent reduction to 5% of the VAT rate for the purchase and installation of photovoltaic panels . Other legislative projects aimed at this sector are in the parliamentary procedure.
The increase in the number of prosumers, however, creates challenges. Perhaps most important is the increasingly limited capacity of the aging electricity transmission and distribution network, which must accommodate an ever-increasing number of prosumers. Another challenge comes from the hitherto timid development of energy storage capabilities.
“However, the solution is not to block the expansion of prosumers, but to support this type of energy production, without creating imbalances in the national system. Throughout Europe the development of the prosumer sector is encouraged. If there are obstacles, we must overcome them, through new legislative solutions and through investments by companies in the field. But, categorically, the value and positive impact of prosumers must be appreciated, not questioned”, said Cristina Prună (USR), vice-president of the Commission for Industries and Services in the Chamber of Deputies and organizer of the event.
Romania either adapts and overcomes the challenges in the prosumer sector, or we risk being left behind in a field that, not only helps us move forward, but comes with solutions and answers to what the accelerated growth of electricity consumption means in the new European context for reducing CO2 emissions, but also in the direction of achieving the objectives of having fair energy prices and bills that do not put pressure on people’s budgets.
“Solutions were not slow to emerge in the debate, from investment in transmission and distribution networks to new funding programs through RePowerEU. Matters related to invoicing, the exemption of prosumers from the payment of green certificates or the possibility of donating energy are already on the Parliament’s agenda in the form of legislative projects. I trust that things will move forward. I think we can say that the road to decentralization of energy production cannot be turned back,” she concluded.