Renewable energy capacity in Romania is expanding rapidly, with the market already at or very close to maturity, said Mihaela Mihăilescu, Deputy Head Romania at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

„We see, when discussing with developers and investors focused on renewables in Romania, that there is a strong appetite. Capacities are increasing significantly, and from our perspective this is already a mature market or very close to one. (…) Now we are seeing a completely different level in terms of investment capacity and the complexity of investors interested in Romania, which is a positive sign, also reflected in the projects already connected to the grid,” Mihăilescu stated, at the conference “RES market towards maturity”, organized by Energynomics.

Onshore wind capacity is set to double from 3.2 GW in 2025 to over 6 GW by 2030, reaching nearly 20 GW by 2060. Solar power, which stood at around 5 GW at the end of 2024, is expected to reach 8 GW by the end of 2025 and 12 GW by 2040. But this surge in renewables is creating urgent demand for grid flexibility and storage solutions.

„I recently saw a graph comparing Romania with other EU member states in terms of balancing costs. Ours are among the highest. On the one hand, that is not good for the country, but on the other, it creates strong opportunities for storage investments. And we see this already happening, with more and more investors interested in both standalone BESS projects as well as co-located solutions,” Mihăilescu noted.

Currently, Romania has just 289 MW of storage capacity, but this could rise to 1.6 GW in the coming years, with growth outpacing that of renewables. The EBRD is already working with the Ministry of Energy to improve legislation and design support schemes for storage, similar to those previously introduced for renewables.

„We now have all the ingredients for a strong take-off in storage capacity in Romania. It is vital that these investments are sustainable, cyber-secure, and implemented by experienced sponsors, so they can serve as showcases for future projects,” Mihăilescu added.

The conference “RES market towards maturity” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Elektra Renewable Support, APERS, Baringa, CJR Renewables, Enery, Eximprod, Gotion, Huawei, Nordestina, Nova Power & Gas, Prime Batteries Technology, Sermatec, Sunotec, Voltika, Wiren.