President of the National Regulatory authority for energy (ANRE) Dumitru Chirita said that between 10 and 12 GW of new installed capacity could be added to the national electricity system, but if these capacities are not followed by storage capacity, the risk of system instability could be extremely high.
Chirita said that Romania needs to consider flexible policies, with the focus on investments in renewable energy. He said that, in addition to 10- 12 GW of new capacity by 2030, Romania will need at least 3 GW in energy storage capacity.
He explained that coal-fired capacity will be completely shut down and something similar would be needed to replace that capacity, which could be renewables with storage capacity.
He said that there is huge investor interest in RES projects, electricity transmission system operator Transelectrica has a demand for 18 GW of new capacity, but the network could absorb only 7 GW. Therefore, in addition to the development of new electricity generation capacities, huge investments in transmission and distribution networks will have to be made as well.
