The number of domestic and small industrial prosumers in Romania has exceeded 300,000, and the dynamics of this phenomenon have been spectacular, stimulated by existing support schemes but also limited by their termination, according to a study conducted by AFEER and coordinated by Viorel Pințea, Senior Expert at XLAED BUSINESS HUB.

According to the study, the scheme that led to the emergence of 300,000 prosumers was effective, but it also generated challenges related to sustainability and grid balance. Pințea pointed out that the dynamics and growth of prosumers in Romania have been spectacular, but that the challenges facing the local market are also present in other European countries that have supported this segment.

“Don’t think that it’s only here that the network has become congested; it’s the same in other countries. Denmark invested preventively and had no problems accommodating prosumers, while Belgium acted reactively and ended up with periods when the distribution service was well below the required standards,” said Pințea, at Energynomics Day, on the premises of the Green Energy Expo & Romenvirotec.

Although the support scheme was effective, its specific form left room for questionable situations, including the emergence of prosumers much larger than the consumption profile. Pințea suggests that the regulation was too broad in terms of the threshold for exemption from balancing responsibility: “We set it at 400 [kW], and that left room for occasional abuses.”

“The prosumer is not a bogeyman; he is an investor seeking legislative predictability. If we want to develop energy communities, we need to think about collective incentives, not just individual ones, and optimize network investments to achieve maximum benefit at minimum cost,” added Pințea.

Pințea pointed out that one of the structural problems is not only related to the number of prosumers, but also to the fact that operators and suppliers do not yet have rapid and standardized access to the data needed for forecasting and managing injected energy. In this logic, accommodating prosumers is not only a matter of physical infrastructure, but also of digital infrastructure. “There is no data, we are not sufficiently digitized at the distribution operator level,” he said.

Instead of expansion based almost exclusively on individual incentives, Pințea proposed a strategic approach, in which funding would be directed toward community projects that produce the best effect on the network, with smaller investments. The central idea is to optimize the benefit-cost ratio, not just to multiply individual installations, for “maximum benefit with minimum investment.”

The conference Energynomics Day was organized by Energynomics, on the premises of the Green Energy Expo & Romenvirotec, with the support of our partners: Elektra Renewable Support, Baringa, Big Store, Think Blu Solution.