Romania is introducing payments for electricity consumers willing to reduce demand during tight market periods as the country adds demand-side flexibility to its response to drought-related generation shortages.
The new mechanism will allow consumers, electricity suppliers and aggregators to bid volumes of demand reduction through auctions organised by transmission system operator Transelectrica.
Participants will specify how much consumption they are prepared to cut and the compensation required.
The measure comes after severe drought and low Danube levels disrupted production at the Cernavodă nuclear plant, which normally supplies about 20% of Romanian electricity.
Romania has responded by returning coal-fired capacity at Rovinari and Paroșeni to operation and seeking to postpone the planned closure of another unit at Turceni.
Transelectrica has also received powers that could allow it to restrict electricity supply to large industrial users or curb exports if system security deteriorates significantly.
Authorities are simultaneously examining infrastructure that could divert additional water toward the Cernavodă cooling-water intake.
The measures underline a broader change in Romania’s electricity strategy.
Instead of relying solely on additional generation, the system is increasingly combining batteries, interconnection capacity and controllable demand to manage periods of scarcity.
That shift could become increasingly important as Romania adds large amounts of solar and wind capacity while simultaneously facing climate-related pressure on hydro and nuclear generation.
