Romania is emerging as Southeast Europe’s most complete market for integrated renewable generation, energy storage and electricity trading. The country combines a large and increasingly flexible power system with accelerating corporate investment, access to EU financing and rising 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 will focus on expanding electricity generation, energy storage and the company’s integrated energy-market platform, strengthening its position in Romania and neighbouring markets, including Hungary and Ukraine.
The scale of the investment highlights a broader shift in Romania’s energy sector. The country’s renewable development pipeline is increasingly challenging a model based solely on standalone solar and wind projects. As grid-connection capacity becomes more constrained, the ability to combine flexible generation, storage and energy-management capabilities is becoming an increasingly important competitive advantage.
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 generate approximately 76 GWh of electricity annually. Its trial operations represent Motor Oil Renewable Energy’s first operating project outside Greece.
Although Stalpu 2 has a relatively modest storage duration, the project is strategically significant. The battery can help reduce short-term deviations, shift photovoltaic output into higher-value hours and improve dispatch compliance. It also provides valuable operational experience in a market where balancing costs and congestion risks are expected to become increasingly important.
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 broader regional trend toward combining complementary generation profiles behind a shared grid connection.
Wind and solar resources must nevertheless be assessed separately within such portfolios. Romanian wind power recorded an indicative market value of €105/MWh, compared with €58/MWh for solar. Wind benefits from a higher capacity factor and stronger production during winter and non-solar hours, while solar provides lower-cost daytime generation. Storage can help manage overlapping production, forecast errors and grid-connection constraints between the two technologies.
Romania also received €636.9 million from the latest EU Modernisation Fund disbursement, the largest allocation among the eleven beneficiary countries. The funding includes support for standalone energy storage, providing Romanian projects with access to capital support that is not available on the same scale in non-EU Western Balkan markets.
The country’s principal risks remain grid congestion, connection delays and the potential erosion of merchant storage returns as additional capacity enters the market. A 12–18 month delay in grid connection can reduce equity IRR by several percentage points through additional interest during construction, delayed revenues and extended development guarantees.
Romania’s greatest advantage lies in the increasing depth of its energy market. Developers can combine EU grants, commercial bank debt, corporate PPAs, balancing revenues and cross-border trading opportunities. The country is therefore moving beyond the development of individual renewable projects and toward a new generation of integrated energy companies capable of managing generation, storage, supply and market exposure as a single portfolio.
