​Report of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) shows that the phenomenon of photovoltaics is gaining momentum from month to month. The number of consumers connected to distribution networks exceeded 96,000 in September, and the installed electric capacity was 1,226 MW.

These are data at the level of September, but considering that the number of daily connections can exceed 200, of course, at the moment we have more than 100,000 consumers and an installed capacity of more than 1,400 MW, as well as two nuclear reactors in Chernavod.

NARE representatives believe that at the current rate, the installed capacity of 2,000 MW will be reached within a year. Almost all estimates made today have been exceeded. Two years ago, ANRE estimated that a capacity of 2,000 MW would not be reached until 2030.

New law in favor of prosumers

Currently, there are no limits to which this photoelectric phenomenon can be evaluated. The Chamber of Deputies voted for a new law in favor of consumers, which will be sent to the President of Romania for promulgation.

One of the provisions concerns a change in the definition of a consumer, adding, among other things, the activity of electricity storage.

What a prosumer can do:

a) can store and sell the produced or stored electricity to the electricity supplier with whom he has entered into an electricity supply contract and/or to consumers connected to the busbars of the power plant;

b) can financially compensate the surplus of electricity produced and delivered to the place of production and consumption with electricity consumed from the network for other places of consumption and/or places of its production and consumption:

• if the supply service for the respective places of consumption and/or places of production and consumption is provided by the same electricity supplier;
• if the places of consumption and/or the places of production and consumption are connected to the electric network of one electricity distribution operator, provided that the production of electric energy is not the main commercial or professional activity;”

It also increases the limit for quantitative compensation from 200 kW to 400 kW. The limit for which imbalances are not paid for is also increased from 400 kW to 900 kW.

How long will the power grid last?

Distributors and representatives of the energy carrier believe that the authorities should consider measures to curb the rate of growth of the installed capacity.

Unfettered, this business can have negative consequences specifically for consumers, as the power grid is so old and worn that it cannot cope, leading to blackouts.

National energy dispatcher Transelectrica says it already has problems balancing the system due to the large number of consumers and the fact that the energy they feed into the grid fluctuates.