Romania provides funding for C&I battery storage systems

The government of Romania is looking to support the deployment of commercial and industrial (C&I) battery energy storage systems (BESS) to the tune of EUR 103.5 million. Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said in a Facebook post that projects can be submitted until Dec. 28.

The grants will be allocated for the purchase of system components and equipment for the construction of new battery projects, as well as the construction of the BESS facilities. Eligible applicants include micro-, small- or medium-sized enterprises (including startups), and large enterprises.

The government has secured a total of EUR 103.48 million, of which EUR 79.6 million is from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), with the remaining amount coming from state funds. Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan consists of EUR 14.24 billion in grants and EUR 14.94 billion in loans. About 41% of the plan will be directed to the green energy transition.

Under the new scheme, the grants will come in the form of reimbursement of expenses. According to Popescu, the maximum amount of BESS grants shall not exceed EUR 167,000 per megawatt-hour installed and EUR 15 million per project. A single applicant may submit only one project. All projects must be implemented by the end of 2025. The subsidy scheme will contribute to Romania’s energy transition objectives by developing at least 240 MW/480 MWh.

At this point, Romania’s installed BESS capacity is negligible. The largest system now under construction is a 7 MW lithium-ion battery owned by Megalodan Storage in Ilfov county, near Bucharest. Presently, the only operational projects in the country are two BESS systems operated by Portugal’s EDPR, with a total capacity of around 1.5 MWh.

However, Romania has big battery manufacturing ambitions and plans to have a 2 GW battery industry by the end of 2025. The country also plans to train some 20,000 people over the next four years to overcome the existing skill gap in the battery sector.

“We want to attract investments of at least EUR 2 billion in the battery sector in the next five years,” Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said in June, after signing a memorandum of understanding with EIT InnoEnergy for the development of the battery sector.

In a separate announcement this week, the government said it has adopted an emergency ordinance that gives prosumers the possibility to install PV panels at both the place of electricity consumption and at other locations, as long as the systems are installed within a single distribution network. According to Popescu, the move was made in response to requests to the Ministry of Energy and parliament from a number of prosumers.