Romania mandates energy storage for prosumers

Prosumers in Romania will be obliged to install energy storage systems according to new Law 255/2024, adopted last week in the Chamber of Deputies’ plenary session.

The new regulation applies to homeowners with PV systems with a capacity between 10.8 kW and 400 kW.

Existing prosumers with installations between 3 kW and 400 kW will also be obliged to install energy storage systems by December 31, 2027. If they fail to do so, their electricity export to the grid will be limited to 3 kW.

The new bill stipulates that the energy storage system must match at least 30% of the capacity of the PV arrays between 3 kW and 200 kW and at least 50% of the solar installations between 200 kW and 400 kW.

The power discharged into the network by prosumers cannot exceed the capacity of their storage facilities, according to the new regulation.

The document adopted by the parliament reads that there is a large number of prosumers in the country, who feed their excess solar energy into the network, which in turn leads to congestion and blackouts. Therefore, the installation of home energy storage systems is a necessary step.

Installed prosumer capacity in Romania reached 1,707 MW at the end of April, exceeding the cumulative capacity of the nation’s utility-scale projects of 1,636 MW.

The bill will take effect once promulgated by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

The Romanian Association of Prosumers and Energy Communities (APCE) criticized the new regulation in a petition sent to the president, requesting that Law 255/2024 should be sent to the Parliament for re-examination.

“APCE strongly supports the development of electric energy storage capacities in batteries as a natural and essential step for the transition to a flexible, intelligent and efficient National Energy System, but believes that this transition cannot be achieved only by exploiting prosumers. Insufficient investments in electricity distribution networks and storage capacities have led to bottlenecks in the implementation of renewable energy production and projects,” APCE President Dan Pîrsan said.

“It is our opinion that Law 255/2024, in its current form, does not effectively support energy storage, but on the contrary, may hinder the development of prosumers and the infrastructure necessary for their integration into the national energy system,” Pîrsan said.