Lower electricity production amid slightly higher domestic demand and the reliance on intermittent renewable resources led to increasingly more situations when Romania imports electricity at the maximum capacity of its interconnectors, although the net electricity deficit is in the range of only some 3% of total consumption.

The power storage capacities can smooth supply and avoid such situations, but investments in new generation facilities are essential to cover the production deficit.

The gross electricity production in Romania contracted by 8.6% y/y to 39.6TWh in January-September, dragged down by the 24% y/y plunge in the hydropower generation (11.5TWh) and the 17% y/y decline in the output of the wind farms (4.6TWh), according to data published by the statistics office INS.

In the meantime, the domestic consumption of end-users increased by 1.2% y/y to 37.4TWh. Households’ consumption rose by 3.2% y/y to 8.7TWh, while the consumption of non-residential end users (28.4TWh) edged up by 0.7% y/y.

This resulted in frequent imports of electricity, which rose by 61% y/y to 9.5TWh in the nine-month period. 

At the same time, the exports dropped by some 5% y/y to 8.2TWh.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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