Although investors now have very big plans in the area of photovoltaics and storage, the words digitalization, data centers, digitalization and cybersecurity dominated – in crescendo. – the debates on the second day of the Energy Strategy Summit 2026 organized by Energynomics. Investors expect a change in mentality at the level of the authorities, which will be more open to modern technologies, including in energy trading. And the expectations are that in the next 2-3 years trading and the market will change, say the speakers present at the event. At the same time, they wonder how much more gas will be needed in the market, if we will have renewables, and when the third wave of renewables will stop, or how long we have until the market is saturated.
Storage will change the way we consume and trade
“When I came to Romania a year ago, there were about 200 MW of storage installed, and now there is at least three times that volume, and batteries have gone from less than 15 MW to over 100 MW in unit size, and the duration has advanced from 2 hours to 4, so the Romanian market has a remarkable speed of development,” says James Spelling, Project Manager, Baringa.
The Romanian storage market is developing faster than the European ones, but the starting base is also lower. Bulgaria went through a similar process, and now investors have reached a critical threshold and are heading towards saturation, with several investors present in Bulgaria, for example, heading to Romania. And ancillary services are growing as well.
At the same time, AI and bots will be increasingly involved in trading, says Paul Ghelasi, research associate at Duisburg-Essen University. There are complex models in trading, but not all of them are yet very well established. However, the market should expect major changes in the near future.
“Renewable energy has become attractive in Romania based on several criteria – access to land, wind potential, access to the grid… Later, after the problem of market price volatility in Europe and including renewable production spikes emerged, which influenced, in addition to the price and energy flows between production areas and consumption areas, storage facilities also appeared”, says Mircea Bica, CEO of MBK Power Energy. He explains the evolution of storage and its role in regulation, in the context of the emergence of negative prices.
“The question is how long will this last?…When there will be enough storage facilities to enter the competitive market, things will reverse”, says Mircea Bica, who believes that it is already too late for investments in stand-alone storage. He explained to us that the market is changing, and that BRM is currently preparing new tools, including a capacity reservation tool, through which the excess production of some players will be found in the excess demand of other players in the market.
At the same time, there are new AI-focused players entering the Romanian market
Henri Taskinen, CEO and co-founder of Capalo AI, says that the Finnish trader has already obtained a provider license and will soon enter the Romanian trading market. “Batteries are complex assets, and optimizing trading is very important,” says Taskinen. The company uses complex AI algorithms to optimize the use of batteries, either stand-alone or from renewable parks, in order to have access to the normal market, but also to the balancing market better tailored to specific hourly and production and regulation needs.
“First of all, you need to have a very good market forecast, based on probabilistic calculations, including when we are talking about intraday, DAM, balancing or system services, to know when and how to use batteries,” said Henri Taskinen.
At the same time, AI will be used in every aspect of the market, from production and storage to trading, especially with the emergence of dynamic tariffs on the market – already present in other markets, says Răducu Ionescu, Solution & Service Manager at Sigenergy. The interaction with the end user will be improved, and the system will analyze consumption and optimize costs. “I believe that in the coming years, towards 2030, most systems installed in Europe will have an integrated energy agent. It is the next level of energy management,” added Răducu Ionescu.
Romania will be a major player in the data center market
At the same time, in Romania, as everywhere else in the world, more and more data centers are emerging, says Gabriel Tache, Segment Sales Director Utilities & Renewables Emerging Cluster Eaton Electric. “The energy trilemma is much more current – namely all distribution companies are facing three big problems – and especially in Europe, given what is happening with access to energy. First of all, energy must be available all the time. Then, it must be affordable. In Europe, the cost of energy is increasing, which puts a lot of pressure on Europe’s competitiveness, also taking into account the restrictions it has from the perspective of the Green Deal. Last but not least, energy must be clean. And the storage part must make a difference and help Europe”, argues Gabriel Tache.
“There is another trend in the world, and Europe is starting to catch up with it, and that is data centers. They are interconnected with storage, because data centers are the largest energy consumers, but they are also the largest energy storage. And I think that over time these data centers will also become a source of back-up energy for the distribution network, allowing frequency regulation and voltage curves,” added Gabriel Tache.
He says that the market in Bulgaria, where Eaton is also present, has already faced negative prices, and today 3.5 GWh have been installed, which allows it to cope with variations, including through trading with Greece and Romania.
“I think Romania will have to reach 5-6 GWh of installed batteries, to ensure our energy independence,” said Gabriel Tache, who explained that the process of introducing batteries to the market should be accelerated, given the closure of Reactor 1 at Cernavoda for repairs and there will still be some time until the Mintia plant enters the system.
At the same time, Răzvan Iorgu, Managing Director of CBRE Romania, believes that even if Romania will not become a regional data center hub, Romania will clearly become a producer of subassemblies for the data center industry, especially after the falls in the auto parts market, with many players reorienting their production in this direction.
How long will gas “last”?
“If I were to give an award for accelerating the renewables industry, I would give it to Donald Trump,” one of the investors present at ESS 2026 tells us. With the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but with the rather expensive price of LNG, Europe decided to accelerate the energy transition at a time when it seemed to be stagnating and that it was giving other resources a very good chance of surviving longer. Hence the dilemma: how long will gas survive as a transitional resource?
One of the “latecomers” in the gas market, Hagag is considering investments in renewables and storage. Of the 400 million euros of announced investments, 100 million will go towards the expansion and development of the gas network. The company has also started the production of equipment specific to the gas industry.
“We can no longer talk about natural gas versus electricity. We have already talked about complementarity between almost all sources, both transitional and renewable, to ensure a continuous flow and resilience of the system. In other words, the answer is, in general, that natural gas will remain for a considerable time, because it is a cleaner option than what we know today in the market, it allows for a fair transition, but let’s not forget that we are dependent on industrial processes that are dependent on the thermal part and that cannot be replaced with resources other than natural gas,” says Răzvan Pârvulescu, Business Development Director, Natural Gas Division, Hagag Energy.
He claims that the growth of the gas network is ensured not only by city halls, but also by local economic agents who prefer gas, being a cheaper resource.
“We will also be present in the renewables and storage area soon,” he added.
Energy Strategy Summit 2026 is organised by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: Elektra Renewable Support, 4P Renewables, ABB, Alive Capital, Atmoce, Baringa, BCR, Big Store, Capalo AI, CBRE Romania, Distribuție Energie Electrică România, Eastship, Distributie Oltenia parte din Evryo, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, Electroalfa, Electroprecizia, EnergoBit, Enery, Enexus, Eurowind, Evryo, Exim Banca Romaneasca, Hagag Energy, KStar, LONGi, MBK Power Energy, MET Romania Energy, Monsson Trading, Nextpower, OX2, Romgaz, Schraubram, Sigenergy, Softenerg WEBUS 4 ENERGY, Solar Today, Sunotec, TBEA, Think Blu Solution, Transelectrica, Waldevar Energy, WTW Romania. Coffee Break Partner Enerta. Lanyard Partner Monsson Operation. Beverage Partners Aqua Carpatica, Alexandrion. Digital Partner Imsol. Mobility Partner BlackCab.
