Romania’s peak energy consumption is 9 gigawatts, and in the last report of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) there were 80-81 gigawatts in technical connection approval, which is absurd, declared, on Wednesday, the first vice-president of the Employers’ Organization of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania – PATRES, Martin Moise.

“I would like to mention that we, PATRES, requested guarantees for the issuance of ATRs (technical connection approvals, n.r.), in 2018, because we saw what happened in the first wave of investments, in the period 2008-2013, when we had technical connection approvals issued for 20 gigawatts. At that time, less than 5 gigawatts were built. It was obvious that, when the second wave of investments begins, in that sad period when investments stopped, after the green certificates were cut, we will encounter exactly the same problem. In fact, this reality shows us right now: according to the latest ANRE report, there are 80-81 gigawatts in technical connection approvals. If we look at consumption a little, we see that Romania’s peak consumption is 9 gigawatts… What do we do with 80 gigawatts? We build another 3, 4, 5 energy systems? It’s absurd. Due to the fact that those entry barriers were not put in place, we have reached some absolutely paradoxical situations”, Moise emphasized, quoted by Agerpres.

According to the cited source, the “First come, first served” principle must be a priority in investment financing.

“I think that this pressure that is also coming from the government is very good. That draft Order that ANRE is still debating, because it has not yet been issued, must go to the end and should become even tougher. It should do something extremely important: prioritize the “first come, first served” principle, meaning “Sir, you came, you built, we connected you to the grid, we started your installation”. We want megawatts in the field that will inject cheap energy into the system. We don’t want megawatts on paper, stories, that is, 80 gigawatts that will never be realized and that some are holding on to with their teeth. “The difference between a serious investor and a less serious one is the financing of the investment. You have the money to make the investment, go ahead and do it,” said the PATRES representative.