Romania is emerging as Southeast Europe’s most complete market for integrated renewable generation, storage and electricity trading. The country combines a large power system, accelerating corporate investment, access to EU financing and growing demand for grid flexibility.
Nova Power & Gas, part of Romanian infrastructure group E-INFRA, has announced a €1 billion investment programme through 2029. The programme is intended to expand electricity generation, energy storage and the company’s integrated market platform, strengthening its position across Romania and neighbouring markets including Hungary and Ukraine.
The scale of the programme matters because Romania’s renewable pipeline is beginning to exceed the capabilities of a development model based on standalone solar and wind assets. As connection capacity becomes scarce, ownership of flexible generation, storage and energy-management capabilities provides a competitive advantage over developers dependent on a single revenue source.
A working example is the Stalpu 2 hybrid plant, developed by Motor Oil Renewable Energy, part of Greece’s Motor Oil Group. The project combines 63 MW of solar capacity with a 10 MW/21 MWh battery system and is expected to produce approximately 76 GWh annually. Trial operations mark Motor Oil Renewable Energy’s first operating project outside Greece.
Stalpu 2 is modest in storage duration, but strategically important. The battery can reduce short-term deviations, shift part of the photovoltaic output into higher-value hours and improve compliance with dispatch schedules. It also gives the owner operational experience in a market where balancing and congestion risks are likely to become increasingly material.
Romania has also approved Shikun and Binui Energy Europe’s Deleni hybrid project in Iași County. Developed through Deleni Wind Energy, the project combines solar and wind capacity, including Vestas 7.2 MW turbines. The configuration reflects a wider regional shift toward using complementary production profiles behind a shared grid connection.
Wind and solar need to be modelled separately within such portfolios. Romanian wind recorded an indicative market value of €105/MWh, compared with €58/MWh for solar. Wind’s higher capacity factor and stronger winter and non-solar-hour profile support portfolio revenues, while solar provides lower-cost daytime production. Storage can manage overlap, forecast error and connection constraints.
Romania received €636.9 million from the latest EU Modernisation Fund disbursement, the largest allocation among the eleven beneficiary countries. Funding includes standalone storage, giving Romanian projects access to capital support unavailable on the same scale in non-EU Western Balkan markets.
The country’s principal risks are grid congestion, connection delays and the possible dilution of merchant storage returns as new capacity enters operation. A 12–18 month connection delay can reduce equity IRR by several percentage points through additional interest during construction, delayed revenue and extension of development guarantees.
Romania’s advantage lies in the emerging depth of its market. Developers can combine EU grants, commercial bank debt, corporate PPAs, balancing revenues and cross-border trading. The country is moving beyond individual renewable projects toward integrated energy companies capable of managing generation, storage, supply and market exposure as a single portfolio.
