Romania Announces €815 Million Support For Renewables

• Romania has announced €815 million financial support for its upcoming renewable energy auction rounds 
• Winning projects can use solar PV, wind or hydropower technology with one of the 2 rounds dedicated for self-consumption 
• Winning projects will be required to come online not later than December 31, 2029 

The Ministry of Energy in Romania has revealed plans to launch 2 public solicitation calls for renewable energy on March 1, 2024, including one for self-consumption facilities. It has allocated a total budget of €815 million to be offered as grants to the winners. 

State financial support of up to €20,000 million/beneficiary will be provided from the European Union's (EU) Modernization Fund. 

Eligible technologies for these rounds are wind, solar and hydro power with one of the calls reserved for the production of green energy for self-consumption of at least 70% of the energy generated. 

Winning projects will need to come online within 3 years of signing the financing contract but not later than December 31, 2029. Eligible beneficiaries for both the rounds will be micro-enterprises, small or medium enterprises as well as large companies. The selection criterion will be price in €/MW. 

The total budget will be distributed among the 2 calls in the following manner:  

Call 1: Self-consumption 

• Solar power projects with up to 1 MW capacity can win a maximum of €1 million/MW with a total of €170 million reserved for this financial package 
• Solar energy facilities with more than 1 MW capacity can claim up to €500,000/ MW out of the €190 million total budget 
• For wind power facilities, out of a total €30 million budget, the maximum state aid offered can be €700,000/MW 
• Hydropower category gets a total budget of €25 million, with a maximum of €1.805 million/MW to be won 

Call 2: Renewable Energy Projects  

• Solar energy facilities will win a total of €500,000/MW out of the €200 million budget 
• Wind energy facilities will get €100 million to win €700,000/MW 
• Out of the €100 million budget, hydropower facilities can be allocated a maximum of €1.805/MW 

On January 18, 2024, the ministry launched applicant guides for the 2 rounds for public consultation. Comments to these will be incorporated, evaluated and published in the 2nd half of February to formally open the call on March 1, 2024.  

"All these investments mean jobs, competitiveness for the Romanian private sector and lower energy bills for all Romanians, in the long term. We will continue this effort at a sustained pace, because I assumed from the beginning of my mandate the acceleration of all investment programs and the transformation of Romania into an energy hub for the entire region," said Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.  

The minister also said Romania installed 496 MW of new solar in 2023 (see Romania Installed 624 MW New Electricity Capacity In 2023). 

Earlier in August 2023, the ministry had released an information note for its maiden contracts for difference (CfD) auction round (see Romania Releases CfD Auction Schedule For 5 GW). Now it plans to auction a total of 5 GW capacity in 2 rounds scheduled for 2024 and 2025.