Analysis of Romania's ANRE grid connection and licensing reforms for solar, wind and BESS investors, including guarantees, authorisations, ATRs and project bankability.
Romania is entering a new phase in renewable energy regulation.
Why this matters now
Romania is entering a new phase in renewable energy regulation.
For several years, the Romanian renewables market has been driven by a simple commercial truth: the most valuable asset in a project was often not the land, not the building permit, not even the technology, but the grid connection position.
A photovoltaic, wind, hybrid or battery storage project with a credible grid connection route could attract investors even before becoming fully ready-to-build. Developers built pipelines around grid access. Investors priced projects based on the maturity of the ATR, the status of the connection agreement, the timing of reinforcement works and the perceived likelihood of reaching commercial operation.
That market logic is now being challenged.
ANRE has published draft amendments affecting both the grid connection regime and the authorization/licensing regime. The first draft modifies the framework around Ordinance 59/2013, the template ATR, the connection agreements and the capacity allocation methodology. The second draft modifies Regulation 6/2025 on establishment authorizations and licences in the electricity sector.
Together, these drafts may significantly change how renewable energy and storage projects are developed, financed, acquired and brought to ready-to-build status in Romania.
The policy direction is understandable. Romania needs to address speculative grid blocking. Capacity in the grid is scarce, and it should not be occupied by projects that exist only on paper.
But the legal design matters.
A regulation that removes speculative projects can be helpful. A regulation that also makes serious, financeable projects harder to build can become counterproductive.
This article explains what is changing, why it matters, and what developers, investors and lenders should consider.
1. Historical context: how grid connection became the core asset in Romanian renewables
Romania’s renewable energy market has moved through several phases.
The first major wave was driven by the green certificate support scheme. That period created significant renewable capacity, but also market distortions, legislative volatility and investor caution.
The second wave was more commercially driven. Investors started looking at projects based on merchant exposure, bilateral PPAs, corporate offtake, portfolio optimization and, more recently, battery storage economics.
In this new wave, grid access became the bottleneck.
A project may have good land, strong irradiation or wind potential, an experienced developer and an interested buyer. But without credible grid access, it is not bankable.
This is why the ATR became one of the central documents in renewable energy due diligence. Investors and lenders look at:
likelihood of energization.
The market therefore created a strong incentive to secure grid capacity early.
That incentive, however, also produced a negative effect: some projects reserved capacity without sufficient maturity, financing or real implementation capacity.
ANRE’s draft reforms appear to respond to this concern.
The problem is not the objective. The problem is whether the proposed tools are proportionate and sufficiently calibrated.
2. What the draft grid connection reform changes
The draft amendment to the grid connection framework introduces several important changes.
2.1. Higher financial exposure in the grid connection process
The draft provides that the financial guarantee under the relevant provisions of the connection regulation may represent 20% of the connection tariff, excluding VAT, for certain production or consumption and production projects.
This is not a minor administrative amount.
For projects with significant connection works, substation works or reinforcement components, this can become a material cash-flow burden. It may require bank guarantees, blocked collateral, insurance instruments or other forms of financial backing.
For international investors, this means that the cost of holding and developing a Romanian project may increase before the project reaches RTB status.
For developers, this changes the economics of pipeline building. A large portfolio of projects can no longer be maintained cheaply if each project requires significant guarantees.
2.2. The building permit becomes directly linked to survival of the ATR and connection agreement
The draft introduces strict timing around the building permit.
For production or consumption and production projects, the user must obtain the building permit by the date of signing the execution contract for the connection installation, but no later than:
12 months from the signing of the connection agreement; and
18 months from the issuance of the ATR.
If the building permit is not obtained within the applicable deadlines, the ATR ceases to be valid and the connection agreement terminates by operation of law.
This is a major shift.
Historically, permitting delays could create commercial pressure, but the draft makes the consequence much more severe: loss of the core grid asset.
2.3. The ANRE establishment authorization becomes a condition for maintaining grid rights
For projects with approved export capacity above 1 MW, the draft requires the user to obtain the ANRE establishment authorization within a similar timeframe:
risk of guarantee execution.
For a 100 MW project, just the per-MW guarantees may reach
whether the project can realistically reach the grid connection certificate before expiry.
5. Why this may be problematic for serious projects
The main issue is not that ANRE wants stronger rules.
Romania needs stronger rules.
The main issue is that the draft framework may not sufficiently distinguish between speculative inactivity and legitimate development complexity.
Renewable energy and BESS projects are complex by nature.
Delays may arise from
M&A transaction timing.
In many of these cases, the developer may be acting in good faith and actively progressing the project.
If the law treats delay as automatic failure, then the sanction may be disproportionate.
The legal system should penalize lack of seriousness, not the unavoidable complexity of infrastructure development.
A serious developer should be able to show progress.
A speculative developer should not be allowed to block the queue.
The challenge is to design a regulation that distinguishes between the two.
6. Impact on ready-to-build projects and M&A transactions
The proposed changes are especially important for RTB and near-RTB projects.
In Romania, RTB value is typically built around a combination of
route-to-market assumptions.
The new drafts may change how buyers look at these projects.
A project may no longer be considered truly RTB only because it has an ATR, building permit and connection agreement. Buyers will also ask:
Is the ANRE establishment authorization valid?
Was it obtained within the relevant deadline?
Does it need extension soon?
Has the ANRE guarantee been constituted?
Are financing documents required within 6 months?
Are there any pending risks of ATR cessation?
Are transitional rules triggered?
Has the grid connection certificate been issued or is it still pending?
Are the guarantees transferable or must they be replaced after a transaction?
This means that legal due diligence for Romanian renewable energy projects will become more technical and more timing-sensitive.
It also means that SPA drafting will need stronger protection around regulatory risk.
Buyers may ask for
termination rights if authorization deadlines are missed.
For sellers, this means that preparing a project for sale will require much more regulatory housekeeping.
A clean data room will not be enough. The project timeline must be defensible.
7. Impact on financing and bankability
The drafts may also affect project finance.
Lenders are not only interested in whether a project has permits. They are interested in whether rights are stable, enforceable and not easily lost.
Automatic termination of the ATR and connection agreement may become a major bankability concern.
If failure to obtain an authorization or certificate by a fixed deadline leads to automatic loss of grid rights, lenders will ask:
What causes could delay the project?
Are any of those causes outside the borrower’s control?
Is there a cure period?
Can the deadline be extended?
What happens if the grid operator is delayed?
What if a public authority delays the building permit?
Can the guarantee be executed despite non-developer delay?
Is the project still financeable before the grid connection certificate?
The new guarantee regime also matters.
Bank guarantees consume banking lines. Insurance guarantees have premium costs. Cash deposits reduce available equity.
This affects the financing plan.
A project that looked financially viable under the old development assumptions may need a revised equity bridge, guarantee facility or sponsor support package.
For international investors, this may be manageable. For medium-sized developers, it may be a serious barrier.
8. Impact on BESS and hybrid projects
Battery storage projects deserve special attention.
BESS development is already different from standard PV development.
A BESS project may depend on
potential tolling or optimization agreements.
If the new rules apply mechanically, BESS and hybrid projects may face the same guarantee pressure as classic generation projects, while having a different commercial risk profile.
For example, a standalone BESS project may be highly dependent on market design, balancing rules, ancillary service qualification and revenue contracting. A hybrid PV+BESS project may require additional technical changes, storage sizing decisions and grid export/charging logic.
A regulation that treats PV, wind, BESS and hybrid projects identically may fail to reflect these differences.
This is one of the key points that should be considered during public consultation.
9. What should be improved in the draft framework
The proposed reforms should not simply be rejected.
They should be improved.
Romania does need to clean the grid queue. It does need to discourage speculative projects. It does need to ensure that scarce grid capacity is allocated to serious investments.
But this can be done through a more balanced mechanism.
9.1. Avoid automatic termination without fault analysis
The most important improvement would be to avoid automatic loss of ATR and connection agreement where delay is not attributable to the developer.
If delay is caused by a public authority, grid operator, litigation, force majeure-like event or a documented administrative blockage, automatic termination is too harsh.
A better approach would be
reasoned decision.
9.2. Introduce clear cure periods
Before ATR cessation or connection agreement termination, the developer should have a reasonable cure period.
This would allow serious developers to demonstrate progress and prevent purely formal loss of grid rights.
9.3. Calibrate guarantees by project maturity
A project with secured land, environmental decision, building permit, EPC negotiations and financing term sheet should not be treated like an early-stage speculative application.
Guarantee levels could be reduced or released as milestones are achieved.
9.4. Coordinate cumulative guarantees
The combined exposure of EUR 20,000/MW + EUR 30,000/MW + 20% of connection tariff may be disproportionate in some cases.
The rules should consider an overall cap, coordination mechanism or partial offset between guarantees.
9.5. Allow partial release of guarantees
Guarantees should not necessarily remain fully blocked until the final grid connection certificate.
Milestone-based release could be introduced, for example upon
staged energization.
9.6. Clarify “no longer undertakes steps”
The licensing draft allows guarantee execution if the holder no longer undertakes steps to implement the project. This should be defined clearly.
The regulation should specify
whether ANRE must first issue a notice.
9.7. Make transitional rules more proportionate
Existing projects should not be destabilized without a proper transition.
Projects already in M&A, financing or advanced development may need longer or more flexible deadlines, especially where delays are not attributable to the developer.
9.8. Differentiate PV, wind, BESS and hybrid projects
Different technologies have different permitting, financing and execution profiles.
The regulation should reflect that.
A one-size-fits-all framework may be administratively simple, but commercially inaccurate.
10. What developers and investors should do now
The draft rules are still in public consultation, but market participants should prepare immediately.
Developers and investors should review each project in their pipeline and map
grid connection certificate timeline.
For projects in acquisition, buyers should update their due diligence checklist immediately.
For sellers, the key is to prepare a credible regulatory narrative showing that the project is real, active and progressing.
For lenders, facility agreements and term sheets should include more detailed conditions around ANRE authorization, grid connection certificate, guarantee maintenance and regulatory termination risk.
For developers preparing new projects, the strategy should change from “secure capacity first, solve everything later” to “secure capacity only with a credible legal, permitting and financing path”.
11. The legal and business conclusion
The proposed ANRE reforms may represent a turning point for renewable energy and storage development in Romania.
They are part of a broader shift from a market where grid access could be reserved relatively early, to a market where grid access must be supported by financial guarantees, regulatory authorizations, financing evidence and strict implementation timelines.
This is not necessarily wrong.
A mature market needs discipline.
But discipline must be proportionate.
If the rules are too rigid, they may not only remove speculative projects. They may also increase the cost of capital, reduce competition, slow down M&A, create new disputes and make serious projects harder to finance.
Romania needs both
a cleaner grid queue; and
a stable, bankable investment environment.
The challenge is to achieve both at the same time.
That is why the public consultation period is important.
The question is not whether Romania should fight speculation.
It should.
The question is whether these rules, in their current form, strike the right balance between discipline and investment.
In my view, they require careful recalibration.
For developers, investors and lenders active in Romanian renewables, this is the moment to review portfolios, assess exposure and submit concrete comments.
For anyone acquiring, financing or developing RTB renewable energy and BESS projects in Romania, the message is simple:
Grid connection, permitting and ANRE authorization can no longer be analysed separately. They must be treated as one integrated legal and bankability framework.
How we can help
At Grigorescu & Partners, we advise developers, investors and lenders on renewable energy and storage projects in Romania, with a strong focus on:
legal support from development stage to financial close and project transfer.
If you are developing, acquiring or financing a renewable energy or storage project in Romania, these draft reforms should be reviewed carefully against your project timeline and transaction structure.
The legal risk is no longer only whether a project has an ATR.
The real question is whether the project can keep it.
Suggested FAQ Section for SEO
What is the ATR in Romanian renewable energy projects?
The ATR, or technical connection approval, is the key document setting out the technical and economic conditions for connecting a project to the electricity grid. In renewable energy transactions, the ATR is one of the most important documents reviewed in legal and technical due diligence.
What is changing under the proposed ANRE amendments?
The draft amendments introduce stricter deadlines, higher guarantees, stronger links between grid connection and ANRE establishment authorization, and potential automatic loss of ATR and connection agreement if key permits or authorizations are not obtained on time.
What is the proposed ANRE guarantee for establishment authorization?
The draft amendment to Regulation 6/2025 introduces a financial guarantee of EUR 30/kW installed capacity, equivalent to EUR 30,000/MW, valid until the grid connection certificate is issued.
What is the proposed capacity allocation guarantee?
For 2026, the draft amendment proposes a guarantee of EUR 20,000/MW of installed capacity for participation in the capacity allocation procedure.
Why do these changes matter for RTB projects?
RTB projects may need deeper due diligence. Buyers and lenders will need to verify not only permits and ATR status, but also authorization deadlines, guarantees, financing evidence, transitional rules and risk of automatic termination.
Are the draft ANRE rules already in force?
No. They are draft rules under public consultation. However, if adopted in their current form, they may materially affect renewable energy and storage projects in Romania.