​The total installed capacity of consumer-owned PV panels was 1,300 MW at the end of October, and ANRE shows it will reach 1,500 MW by the end of the year. For comparison, the two nuclear reactors of the Chernavode plant have a total capacity of 1,400 MW.

At the end of last year, there were 48,812 consumers in Romania with an installed capacity of 478 MW.

By the end of October 2023, their number increased to 101,605, and the installed capacity – to 1,298 MW.

“It is clear that this phenomenon is developing,” said George Niculescu, president of ANRE, at a press conference.

“We estimate that by the end of the year we will have 1.5 GW of data that we have. Here we will exceed the capacity of two reactors from Chernavoda.”

ANRE expects this trend to continue next year, when 1,000 MW of PV panels will be installed.

“At the end of next year, we expect 2,500 MW of consumer-owned capacity to be commissioned,” said Gabriel Andronache, vice president of the institution.

ANRE: We have a directive that allows unbalance only for capacities up to 400 kV

Recently, President Klaus Iohannis returned to parliament a law that provides more benefits to consumers.

ANRE showed that one of the reasons is that this law contradicts the European directive.

More precisely, the law voted in the parliament provides that consumers with power up to 900 kV do not pay for imbalances in the network.

“At the meeting of the Commission on Industry, when this amendment to the law was adopted, not a single representative of NARE participated. There is a European directive that allows exemption from payment of imbalances only for those up to 400 kV. It is obvious that the government’s position is to comply with the legal framework,” added the NARE president.

Casa Verde’s new solar program will include funds for consumers to purchase energy storage batteries, which will reduce the problem of grid imbalance, he said.