Romania installed a record 1 GW of new solar capacity, last year, a massive 308% surge from the previous year.
In 2023, solar energy generated 2.5 TWh which is about 5% of the total electricity output, according to Economica.
At the end of 2021, household installations accounted for 85 MW, climbing to 417 MW last year. SolarPower Europe said that it grew to 1,164 MW by the end of November.
Officials from transmission system operator Transelectrica and Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority – ANRE estimated that the total capacity of household installations climbed to 1,400 MW by the last day of December 2023.
Romania’s nuclear power plant Cernavodă generates 1,300 MW.
The number of households and firms with solar panels now numbers 100,000, Economica reported.
ANRE said there were 40,000 households in 2022, while at the end of 2019 only 303.
The boom will continue, as non-renewable energy gets more expensive.
The Casa Verde Fotovoltaice 2023 program will continue with subsidies for 80,000 applicants, and the RePowerEU program offers grants worth EUR 1.1 billion.
Businesses and households are motivated to use solar panels to reduce costs and achieve a good environmental, social and governance score, which is important to obtain financing.
The factors that could slow the trend include the increase of the value-added tax for solar c panels to 9% from 5% and capped electricity prices.
A survey published in October 2023 showed that about half of the population of Romania (52.2%) intended to install photovoltaic systems within two years, Balkan Green Energy reported.
