Romania’s power sector is moving fast: new wind and solar are replacing fossil generation, and prosumers are changing the shape of demand and supply. But the faster variable renewables scale, the clearer one reality becomes: without energy storage, the transition will be unstable, more expensive, and harder to finance.
A new report by Energy Policy Group (EPG)—“Energy Storage: A Challenge Romania Must Overcome” (December 2025)—maps Romania’s storage gap, explains why it matters for grid security, and outlines what policy and markets must change to unlock investment at scale.
Why storage is now “critical infrastructure”
Wind and solar are clean—but intermittent. As their share rises, the grid faces:
- larger and faster imbalances between production and consumption,
- higher risk of frequency and voltage deviations,
- increasing congestion in regions with concentrated renewables (e.g., Dobrogea),
- a shrinking pool of traditional providers of stability (synchronous thermal generators phased down).
Storage is no longer just about “shifting cheap electricity to expensive hours.” It is also about keeping the system operable through ancillary services:
- frequency regulation (primary, secondary, tertiary reserves),
- voltage control through reactive power,
- black start / system restoration after major outages,
- congestion management by absorbing/injecting energy locally.
In grids with high renewable penetration, storage becomes a substitute for services once delivered “for free” by conventional power plants.
Three storage pathways Romania should pursue—together
EPG focuses on three routes that, combined, can give Romania both speed and resilience:
1) Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) PHES remains the most mature and cost-efficient option for large-scale, long-duration storage (with long lifetimes of 50–100 years). But new projects face serious barriers: geography, permitting complexity, long construction timelines, and environmental impact.
2) Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), especially lithium-ion (LFP) BESS is scaling quickly globally because it is fast to deploy and provides excellent rapid-response services—ideal for primary/secondary reserves and short-to-medium duration use cases. The report notes dramatic cost declines over the last decade (with more recent cost improvements slowing as minerals become the key cost driver).
3) Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) V2G could turn Romania’s growing EV fleet into distributed storage, if the country builds bidirectional charging infrastructure and an enabling legal/market framework. Based on Romanian EV numbers cited in the report, Romania’s personal EV fleet already represents a meaningful storage potential—and could grow sharply by 2030 and beyond if policy supports it.
The core message: no single technology is “the answer.” Over-reliance on batteries alone can leave the system exposed because batteries are not always cost-effective for long-duration, large-volume storage.
Where Romania stands today: a clear storage deficit
Romania’s installed storage base remains among the lowest in the EU relative to renewables penetration.
As of October 2025, the report cites:
- 348 MW total installed storage (about 1.8% of total generation capacity),
At the same time, renewables (including prosumers) are already a major pillar of the system—over 40% of installed capacity when prosumers are included—meaning the need for flexibility is rising faster than storage deployment.
Transelectrica’s indicative need is far larger: 2,000–4,000 MW of storage power and 10,000–20,000 MWh of storage energy (8–12 hours), though the report notes Romania still needs a dedicated study to refine system needs.
The real blockers are not technology—they’re market design and execution
The report identifies several structural barriers holding investment back:
- No explicit national storage targets embedded clearly across strategy and implementation tools.
- A market that rewards arbitrage, but offers weak incentives for long-duration storage and hybrid RES+storage.
- Regulatory ambiguity around whether stored-and-reinjected electricity can qualify as renewable—critical for hybrid project economics and guarantees-of-origin logic.
- Lengthy and cumbersome grid connection approvals (ATR bottlenecks), worsened by high volumes of connection requests.
- Limited private financing due to bankability challenges and lack of proven, financeable revenue models.
- Stalled pumped hydro, while alternative innovative technologies get little support.
The result is a paradox: investor interest is strong, but projects struggle to become financeable at scale.
Signs of momentum: Romania has started removing friction
The report highlights important progress:
- GEO 134/2024 removed double taxation on stored electricity and exempted storage operators from several grid-related tariffs and contributions, improving project economics.
- Dedicated support mechanisms are emerging, including a Modernisation Fund-financed scheme (e.g., Order 1355/2024) supporting batteries co-located with existing renewables, and other sectoral schemes (e.g., aerodrome self-consumption projects that include storage).
- ANRE has developed licensing and technical connection rules for storage (including standalone and integrated models), and has enabled TSOs/DSOs to own storage as fully integrated network components for grid management purposes.
These are meaningful steps—but not enough without a coherent strategy and stronger market signals.
What EPG recommends: a practical roadmap Romania can act on now
EPG’s policy package is direct and implementation-oriented:
1) Put storage into the core of Romania’s energy strategy Update the Energy Strategy 2025–2035 with a dedicated storage chapter:
- a national roadmap,
- clear capacity targets,
- defined grid services storage must deliver,
- investment needs and funding pathways,
- innovation embedded from day one.
2) Fix the “time-to-connect” problem Streamline and reduce complexity and financial burden for connecting storage to the grid—because delays kill bankability.
3) Create bankable revenue frameworks Introduce mechanisms that stabilize cash flows and unlock private capital:
- capacity mechanisms / capacity markets,
- Contracts for Difference (CfDs) where appropriate,
- targeted tax incentives,
- guarantees and insurance instruments,
- green/climate bonds,
- clearer rules that enable revenue stacking (arbitrage + balancing + ancillary services).
4) Scale hybrid renewables + storage Develop a technology-neutral support scheme to convert existing wind/solar into hybrid plants, and clarify when discharged electricity can be treated as renewable.
5) Make V2G real Create enabling legislation and logistics:
- incentives for V2G-capable EVs,
- minimum shares of bidirectional chargers in new deployments,
- frameworks for EV owners to “rent” battery capacity to the system,
- pilots (urban and rural) and grid-control algorithm development.
6) Diversify beyond batteries and PHES Fund pilot projects for innovative storage technologies and open grants to international teams to accelerate technology transfer.
The strategic takeaway
Romania is at a decisive point. With renewables rising, grid stability services must come from somewhere. Storage is the most scalable option—but only if policy, regulation, and markets are aligned to make projects financeable.
If Romania moves quickly—setting clear targets, fixing grid access, enabling revenue stacking, and diversifying technologies—storage can become:
- a cornerstone of energy security,
- a driver of investment attractiveness,
- a practical tool for decarbonisation without sacrificing reliability.
Energy storage is not a “nice-to-have.” It is the infrastructure that determines whether Romania’s clean energy transition is smooth—or fragile.
Source: Energy Policy Group (2025), “Energy Storage: A Challenge Romania Must Overcome”, EPG Reports, December 2025, Bucharest.
