Romania enters its latest renewable energy expansion with advantages that many European countries are still trying to build. It already has a large hydropower system, an established onshore wind industry, rapidly growing solar capacity and direct access to the interconnected European electricity market. The country is therefore not beginning a clean-energy transition from zero. Its challenge is to modernise an existing system while adding large volumes of variable generation.
Renewable sources already provide approximately half of Romania’s domestically generated electricity in favourable conditions. Hydropower remains the largest renewable contributor, while wind and solar have become increasingly important. Romania’s final updated National Energy and Climate Plan sets a target for renewables to reach 38.3% of gross final energy consumption by 2030.
Meeting that target will depend less on identifying renewable resources than on connecting projects, strengthening transmission lines, developing storage and creating predictable conditions for investors.
Hydropower Still Anchors Romania’s Renewable Electricity System
Hydropower has been part of Romania’s electricity system for decades and remains the foundation of its renewable generation. The country has more than 6 GW of commercial hydropower capacity, including large facilities along the Danube and within the Carpathian river network.
This gives Romania a different starting position from markets where renewable electricity is almost entirely dependent on new solar and wind farms. Reservoir-based hydropower can provide more controllable generation than weather-dependent technologies, helping the system respond to changes in electricity demand.
However, hydropower production varies with rainfall, river flows and drought conditions. Dry periods can reduce output and increase the need for electricity imports or generation from gas, coal and nuclear plants. Some Romanian hydropower assets are also ageing, creating a need for refurbishment, turbine upgrades and improved water management.
New hydropower development is more difficult than modernising existing plants. Large projects can face environmental concerns, protected-area restrictions and long construction periods. Romania’s most practical hydropower opportunity may therefore come from increasing the efficiency of existing facilities and completing selected projects that are already partly developed.
Solar Power Has Become Romania’s Fastest-Moving Renewable Market
Solar energy is changing Romania’s renewable profile more quickly than any other technology. Installed photovoltaic capacity reached approximately 5 GW during 2025, following strong growth in both utility-scale solar farms and smaller systems used by households and businesses.
Residential solar has expanded through the Casa Verde Fotovoltaice programme and Romania’s net-metering framework. These policies have encouraged consumers to become electricity producers, reducing their purchases from the grid when solar generation is available. Commercial and industrial users are also installing photovoltaic systems to control energy costs and improve supply security.
This distributed growth has widened participation in the energy transition, but it has also made the electricity system more difficult to manage. Thousands of small producers can change demand patterns during sunny hours, while their output is less visible to the transmission operator than generation from large power stations.
At utility scale, Romania offers relatively low land costs, suitable solar resources and access to European financing. Large developments are being proposed across southern and western Romania, including projects that combine solar farms with battery storage. The country’s renewable auctions have also demonstrated that developers are willing to offer solar power at competitive prices.
Solar growth is now moving faster than some parts of the network can accommodate. The value of additional photovoltaic capacity will increasingly depend on storage, flexible consumption and stronger connections between regions.
Dobrogea Remains the Centre of Romanian Wind Power
Romania’s modern wind industry is concentrated mainly in Dobrogea, the south-eastern region between the Danube and the Black Sea. Its strong wind resources and relatively open terrain supported a major construction cycle during the early 2010s. The region now contains many of the country’s largest wind farms.
National onshore wind capacity has remained above 3 GW, but development slowed after changes to Romania’s earlier green-certificate support system. The market has now entered a second investment cycle as governments, utilities and independent developers prepare new projects.
This second phase differs from the first. Developers are considering larger turbines, corporate power-purchase agreements, battery storage and participation in competitive auctions. Older wind farms may eventually be repowered with more efficient equipment, allowing greater generation from sites that already possess grid connections and operating experience.
Dobrogea’s strength is also its main infrastructure problem. Large volumes of nuclear, wind and prospective offshore generation are concentrated in the same part of the country. Electricity must be transported from the Black Sea region toward major demand centres elsewhere in Romania. Transmission congestion can delay connections or restrict how much new capacity can operate effectively.
Future wind development will therefore depend on investment in high-voltage lines, substations and cross-border interconnection as much as on the quality of the wind resource itself.
Competitive Auctions Have Restored Investment Confidence
Romania’s Contracts for Difference programme has become a central part of its renewable investment strategy. Under a two-way CfD, an eligible project receives protection when market prices fall below an agreed strike price, but returns excess revenue when market prices rise above it. This reduces long-term price risk without fully separating generators from the electricity market.
Romania’s first two CfD auctions awarded contracts covering a combined 4.2 GW of new solar and onshore wind capacity. The second round alone awarded 2,751 MW after attracting bids representing more than 5.5 GW. Solar bids reached prices as low as €35 per MWh, indicating strong competition among developers.
The auctions are important because Romania requires substantial private capital to replace retiring coal generation and meet its 2030 renewable target. Revenue certainty can make projects easier to finance, particularly when interest rates, construction costs and wholesale electricity prices are uncertain.
However, an awarded contract does not guarantee that a project will be built on schedule. Developers still require land rights, environmental permits, equipment, financing and a viable grid connection. A large pipeline can place additional pressure on permitting authorities and network operators.
Romania must therefore coordinate auctions with transmission investment. Procuring generation faster than the grid can absorb it would create delays, curtailment risks and higher balancing costs.
The Black Sea Creates a Longer-Term Offshore Opportunity
Romania’s renewable map may eventually extend beyond its onshore wind regions. The country adopted an offshore wind law in 2024, creating an initial legal framework for development in the Romanian Black Sea.
Government and European assessments have discussed the possibility of developing between 3 GW and 7 GW of offshore wind capacity over the longer term. The resource could strengthen Romania’s role as a regional electricity supplier and support future hydrogen or industrial projects near the coast.
Commercial development will still require seabed studies, maritime planning, environmental assessments, leasing procedures and major grid upgrades. The Black Sea also has different technical and security conditions from established offshore wind markets in the North Sea.
Romania can benefit from infrastructure and skills associated with its offshore oil and gas industry, including marine engineering, port services and project management. Constanța and other Black Sea facilities could support construction and maintenance activity if a stable project pipeline emerges.
Offshore wind is therefore strategically important, but it is not a near-term substitute for onshore solar, wind or grid investment. Its contribution will depend on whether Romania turns the 2024 legal framework into clear leasing and procurement arrangements.
Storage and Flexibility Will Determine the Value of New Capacity
Romania’s renewable expansion is beginning to change electricity prices and balancing requirements. High solar and wind production can push short-term prices downward, while low renewable output can create sudden demand for conventional generation or imports.
Battery storage can absorb electricity during periods of high renewable production and release it when demand or prices rise. Pumped-storage hydropower, demand response and stronger interconnection with neighbouring countries can provide additional flexibility.
The country has started supporting battery projects through European and national financing, and several large renewable developments include storage within their designs. Yet storage deployment remains small compared with the volume of solar and wind capacity seeking connection.
Heating and transport present further challenges. Romania’s renewable electricity sector is advancing faster than renewable heat and low-carbon transport. Traditional biomass, particularly firewood, remains significant in household heating, but it is not always used efficiently or sustainably. Heat pumps, building renovation, district-heating modernisation and electric transport will be needed if Romania is to raise the renewable share of total energy consumption rather than electricity alone.
Romania’s Renewable Transition Is Moving Into Its Harder Phase
Romania has moved beyond the question of whether renewable energy can become a major part of its electricity system. Hydropower is already established, solar deployment is accelerating, wind investment has returned and more than 4 GW of auction-backed projects are progressing through the development pipeline.
The harder task is integrating this growth into a reliable national system. Transmission congestion, connection delays, storage requirements and uneven progress in heating and transport could limit the impact of new generation.
Romania’s renewable potential is strong enough to support domestic decarbonisation and increased regional electricity trade. Whether that potential becomes dependable energy will be determined by the pace of grid construction, project delivery and market reform.
