Romania's approved clean-power queue tops 114 GW, with storage in the mix

Romania's regulator counts 1,625 renewable projects with valid grid permits totaling 114.9 GW, though approvals are not the same as built capacity.

Romania's energy regulator, ANRE, reports that as of October 1, 1,625 renewable projects above 1 MW hold valid grid connection permits. Together they represent 114.9 GW of approved export capacity. Of those, 1,055 projects (63.7 GW) have signed connection contracts, 749 projects (41 GW) also hold building permits, and 262 projects (16.2 GW) have ANRE establishment authorisations.

Storage is a notable part of the pipeline. Of the 749 projects with both connection and building permits, 238 include storage, either integrated or standalone, adding up to more than 15.3 GW of approved maximum export capacity. Just over 4 GW of that is scheduled for commissioning in 2026. Separately, 259 projects totaling 13.02 GW are slated to come online in 2027, and 730 projects totaling 40.4 GW have commissioning dates between 2026 and 2035.

The pipeline sits on real deployment. Romania added around 2.2 GW of solar last year, and cumulative solar capacity passed 8.5 GW by mid-2026. At that pace the country could hit its 2030 target of 10 GW of solar before the end of 2027. The EU's largest planned solar project, which is in this pipeline, reached financial close in September.

Why it matters: electricity that comes from sun and wind has near-zero fuel cost, and pairing it with storage helps that output reach the evening peak. A deep queue of permitted projects is what turns that into cheaper, more available power over time. Compared with the start of September, the number of projects with valid connection permits fell 1.1%, while capacity holding all three major approvals rose 5.28%, which suggests projects are moving toward construction.

The caveats are significant. These figures measure approved export capacity, not built capacity. Commissioning dates are plans and may slip, and the 2030 solar timing is a projection that assumes the current rate holds. ANRE publishes the numbers monthly, so the next updates will show how many approvals become operating plants.

Source: pv magazine