Romania allocates EUR 150 million for standalone battery storage rollout

The Romanian Ministry of Energy has announced a new round of funding from the Modernization Fund dedicated to battery energy storage systems.
Minister Burduja during his recent visit to Romania's largest operating BESS project with an installed capacity of 24 MWh. | Image: Monsson

Romania has launched a new non-refundable funding program for battery energy storage systems to the tune of EUR 150 million ($158 million), this time dedicated to standalone facilities.

The Ministry of Energy said on Friday that the program will take the form of a competitive bidding procedure, with a single criterion for ranking the offers, the value of the requested state aid in EUR/MWh.

The list of potential beneficiaries includes microenterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, but also large enterprises (including newly established entities) and autonomous authorities, legally established in Romania or another EU member state and registered with the National Trade Register Office in Romania before the date of the first payment of the state aid granted under the scheme.

The objective of the scheme is to support investments in the development of battery energy storage systems which can be used to store renewable energy (solar, wind and hydro energy) and are capable of operating independently.

The period for submitting project proposals for the construction of electricity storage facilities will be announced on the official website of the Ministry of Energy at: www.energie.gov.ro . The deadline for submitting comments on the scheme is February 17, 2025.

According to the Ministry’s announcement, Romania has so far attracted EUR 14 billion in non-repayable financing. Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Energy said: “We have the same motto as in the first mandate: investments, investments, investments…It is about the security and well-being of Romanians, but also about the contribution that Romania must make to the European effort to finally get rid of Moscow’s energy blackmail and dependence on Russian energy resources. We have all seen where decades of compromises in this direction have brought us.” 

Burduja referred to storage as the zero priority of the Romanian energy system. The nation has allocated EUR 80 million under its national recovery and resilience plan (PNRR) for energy storage projects, which, as previously announced, is expected to result in contracts for a total of 1.8 GW of capacity.

Furthermore, Romania launched an EUR 150 million program for behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems developed in conjunction with existing renewable energy facilities – wind, solar, or hydro, in November 2024.

“Our target is to have at least 1000MW of battery storage in the next two years, exactly as much as we could have had today at Tarnița-Lapuștești, a project that we also took out of the drawer and for which we resumed the entire process, after decades of oblivion,” Burduja said on Friday.

The state aid scheme can be accessed at: https://energie.gov.ro/anunt-consultare-publica-schema-de-ajutor-de-stat-notificata-privind-sprijinirea-investitiilor-in-dezvoltarea-capacitatilor-de-stocare-a-energiei-electrice-baterii-cu-finantare-din-fondul-pentru-mo/

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  • Marija has years of experience in a news agency environment and writing for print and online publications. She took over as the editor of pv magazine Australia in 2018 and helped establish its online presence over a two-year period.

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