If the positive result of the presidential elections brought a relaxation among investors, who gave the green light to previously blocked projects, the discussions about recovery solutions following the budget deficit inflation, which will be negotiated with the Union at the Ecofin summit in July, worry investors in light of the possibility of blocking important European funds.
At the same time, investors and managers present at the Energy Strategy Summit 2025 say that the energy sector has experienced unprecedented development in the last two years and are increasingly talking about the need for investments in the network, storage, hybridization and aggregation services – these are the main conclusions of the first day of the conference organized by Energynomics.
Ondrej Safar, CEO, Evryo reminded of the need for network investments, without which connection costs remain expensive, Volker Raffel, CEO of E.On Romania, shows that these can go up to 50% of total costs. “It is important to know that investments in networks are correct”, said Raffel, referring to the RRR rate established by the authorities for the 5th regulatory period.
Alexandru Chiriță, CEO of Electrica, says that we are talking wrongly about a network cost, which should rather be considered a missed investment opportunity. “If we do not invest, we will fall behind other states. A 1% decrease would not be really felt by the consumer, but a 1% investment in networks is felt, including through the multiplier effects”, said Chiriță.
“A blackout is not impossible, it is just unlikely now,” added the Electrica leader, who explained that the grid will soon have over 500,000 prosumers and will find it increasingly difficult to accommodate new solar and wind farms of tens of GW.
Mihai Păun, a member of the Supervisory Board of Transelectrica, says that the European grid will receive 200 billion euros in the coming years through the Connecting Europe Facility, and Romania will have to increase its border interconnection capacity to 70%, according to European rules monitored by ACER, in the next period (from 2026 it will be mandatory for all member states) – a percentage that is difficult to achieve for all network operators (TSOs) and, even more so, a great challenge for Romania.
“No matter how much we talk, there are some problems that have not been solved for years. I don’t think the problem is the political factor. We, as management, must find solutions together, through debate with all the players in the market,” says Mihaela Suciu, CEO of DEER. She says that the distribution management of the Electrica group (DEER) has reached 78,000 prosumers and 910 MW, and for this year another 30,000 prosumers are estimated to be added to the network and at least an extra 300 MW. The network remains outdated, although more and more money has been invested annually: from 770 million lei in 2023, to 900 in 2024 and to over 1 billion lei estimated for the current year. With 333 billion euros absorbed, the company is having difficulty finding implementing companies, which also lack specialized personnel.
“We have a functional European market, under the given conditions, but this European energy union is not completed,” says George Vișan, Director of Energy Markets, Transelectrica. “We need flexibility in the system,” said Vișan, who also stressed the importance of storage and Demand Response – which will soon benefit from a new Network Code.
“The energy sector has grown fantastically in recent years, companies have two-year contracts, and European funds, such as the Modernization Fund, have fantastically fueled projects in the market. There are many reasons to be optimistic, but I think we need more coherence. I think the electrification of the economy will be done by the private sector, not the public sector. We don’t need the public sector – public efforts have already been made that have thrown us into the excessive deficit procedure and we need 35 billion lei in the budget this year and 60 billion lei in the next. It remains to be seen what the results of the negotiations at the Ecofin Forum in July will be, where we risk losing European funds,” added Corneliu Bodea, CEO, Adrem and president of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE).
For the 11th year in a row, Energynomics organises the Energy Strategy Summit, a unique concept event designed to stimulate the exchange of ideas on the Romanian energy industry.
On this occasion, Energynomics launched the 47th edition of Energynomics magazine. 184 pages of interviews, analysis and opinions, fully bilingual, are now available for all interested in the present situation of the Romanian energy industry. The printed edition will also be delivered in the next few weeks and we will make sure it will reach, as it has been doing since December 2013, professionals in the energy industry in Romania, the managers of the most active companies and officials from regulatory authorities with responsibilities in the energy sector.
2025 Energy Strategy Summit is organised by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: AJ Brand, Elektra Renewable Support, ABB, Adrem Asset Management, Alive Capital, BCR, DEKRA, Distribuție Energie Electrică Romania, E-Infra, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, EnergoBit, Enery, Enevo Group, Enexus, European Investment Bank, Evryo, Exim Banca Romaneasca, Delgaz Grid, Genesis Biopartner, Huawei, ING Bank, Jantzen Renewables, Keno Energy, Leader Team, LONGi, Nano Energies, Prime Batteries Technology, Procesio, Procredit Bank, Relians, Renomia, Romgaz, Schneider Electric, script.ai, Sermatec, smartPulse, Solar Today, SolaX, Think Blu Solution, Voltika, Wiren, YEO, AIployees, Aqua Carpatica, Alexandrion, Carbon Tool, Imsol.
Strategic partners: ACUE, AFEER, AIIR, AHK România, APERS, ARPEE, CNR-CME, CRE, EFdeN, EPG, HENRO, FPE, PATRES, ROMATOM, RPIA, RWEA, SAMER.
