At a time when Romania benefits from substantial European funds and has large-scale energy infrastructure projects underway, the lack of contractors is becoming one of the most pressing challenges for the sector. Mihaela Suciu, General Manager of Distribuție Energie Electrică România (DEER), issued a strong warning at the 11th Energy Strategy Summit, the flagship event of Energynomics: the Romanian energy system is facing an acute shortage of specialized labor, and this deficit risks blocking the implementation of funded projects, despite the available resources.
“We are at the point where we have managed, together with the team, to attract 333 million euros in European funds. It’s not a small amount. But I tell you honestly that I was scared when I signed the contracts. Scared because signing a financing contract is just the beginning – identifying the executors and implementing it is the key to success,” said Suciu.
In 2025, DEER estimates investments of over 1 billion lei, up from 900 million in 2024. Beyond internal capacity – where the company has maintained its own energy construction division – the free contractor market is overburdened, with the same circle of companies participating in tenders and without additional execution capacity. “There are the same contractors who come and who do not have the capacity, that is, they no longer have the capacity, because they have a lot of work,” explained Mihaela Suciu.
But the crisis is not limited to the lack of authorized performers. Another structural phenomenon undermines the future of the sector: the aging of the workforce. Currently, the average age in distribution companies is, in the words of Mihaela Suciu, “unacceptably high.” The situation is aggravated by a poor supply of professionally trained young people, a low attractiveness of technical education and the growing gap between market demand and young people’s educational options.
DEER has tried to compensate through partnerships: it supports dual education classes, grants scholarships, organizes internships. However, it recognizes that these efforts are insufficient in an equation in which, beyond infrastructure and financing, the human factor becomes the key. “Solutions must be combined,” says Mihaela Suciu. We cannot talk about a functional energy system without the contribution of each link: producers, transporters, distributors, users and prosumers. And without trained people, all the other links are shaky.
This staffing crisis comes at a time of pivoting in the energy system. Grids were designed with a one-way logic – from producer to consumer – but with the explosion in the number of prosumers, energy now flows in both directions. In 2023, DEER had 43,000 connected prosumers, with a total capacity of 450 MW; in 2024, their number almost doubled, reaching 78,000 and 910 MW installed. For 2025, the company estimates an increase of another 300 MW. But 80% of the grids that should support this new model were built before 2000, that is, before the idea of prosumers existed.
“We talk about digitalization, about smart grids, but we are facing reality: there is a lack of people to modernize, to implement, to maintain,” said Suciu. Faced with this reality, optimism becomes a survival strategy. “I was recently told that I am too optimistic. Maybe, but we have no other option. Every day is about decisions. And a bad decision is better than no decision at all.”
In this climate, the alarm signal raised by DEER must also be heard outside the industry: without a coherent national policy for training and attracting the energy workforce, without a clear strategy for mobilizing the execution companies, the amounts attracted from European funds risk remaining just commitments on paper. The energy transition needs much more than money – it needs people.
2025 Energy Strategy Summit was 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.