After an idle period, in 2023, Romania reached an important threshold in its renewable energy journey, with over 1 GW of solar capacity being connected in one year, according to the latest report published by SolarPower Europe and consulted by Ziarul Financiar. This capacity includes both the so-called "prosumers" (households with PV panels) and large projects (utility-scale).

The new installations, which bring an increase of 308% compared to the previous year, thus set a new record – the last one being reached in 2010 – the report reads.

However, the data differ from those announced by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), for example, Ziarul Financiar notes – but the trend is as obvious as it can be, and it marks the return of investments in the local renewable sector. According to estimates of ANRE officials expressed in December 2023, the prosumers alone installed more than 1GW of PV generation capacity in 2023 (more than twice their initial installed capacity at the beginning of the year).

"At the end of 2023, the cumulative power in solar energy projects, prosumers, and large-scale projects reached 2.85 GW, being the technology with the fastest growth rate. Solar energy produced 2.5TWh of energy, which represented 5% of the national energy production [in 2023]," the SolarPower Europe report also states.

According to the statistics office, the solar power production in January-November was 1.6TWh (-7% y/y), 3.1% of the total – but this includes only the electricity delivered to the power grid and not the self-consumption.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Deyangeorgiev/Dreamstime.com)