Romania’s energy regulator ANRE has approved authorisations covering 593.5 MW of new capacity at its Sept. 22 meeting. The package included a storage component of about 527.2 MW, combining co-located and standalone batteries. ANRE also issued commercial-operation licences covering 239.2 MW of capacity.
The authorisation package comprised 132.65 MW of co-located storage and 394.57 MW of standalone batteries, bringing the total storage figure to about 527.2 MW. It also included 66.25 MW of photovoltaic capacity within the same approvals. In parallel, commercial-operation licences covered 239.2 MW, including 185.4 MW of solar, 49.8 MW of wind and 4 MW of standalone storage.
Batteries amid volatile prices and import dependence
The scale of the battery approvals is described as increasingly significant for Romania’s power market. Solar and wind additions are expanding rapidly, while the country is also seeing extreme price volatility and periods of heavy import dependence. The approvals align with a commercial case for batteries that can charge during low-price renewable hours and discharge when electricity becomes scarce.
Romania has recently experienced electricity prices falling close to zero during solar-heavy periods before rising above €200-300/MWh later in the day. The resulting intraday spreads are cited as providing a stronger revenue signal for storage than annual average wholesale prices. The approvals come as both Cernavodă nuclear reactors remain unavailable and hydro conditions are weak.
Batteries cannot replace weeks of lost nuclear generation, but they can reduce exposure to the most expensive import hours and provide balancing services as renewable penetration rises. The market is therefore shifting from an earlier focus on adding solar and wind megawatts toward adding enough storage to make those resources usable when the system needs them.