Romania's May 2026 Grid Connection Reform: ATRs, Connection Agreements and Guarantees

Executive summary

On 25 May 2026, Romania implemented one of the most consequential reforms of its grid connection and energy project authorisation framework in recent years.

The reform was introduced mainly through:

• ANRE Order no. 15/2026, which amended the grid connection regulations, the statutory ATR content and both grid connection agreement templates; and
• ANRE Order no. 16/2026, which amended the establishment-authorisation and licensing framework.

The reform does not create an entirely new ATR or a completely new grid connection agreement. Instead, it changes the commercial and regulatory meaning of those documents.

For an investor, the most important development is this:

> A valid ATR and a signed grid connection agreement can no longer be treated as static project assets. Their continued validity now depends on the project meeting and continuously maintaining a series of regulatory milestones.

The main changes include:

ANRE presented the reform as a response to speculative projects that reserve grid capacity without progressing towards construction. The stated policy objective is to direct limited grid capacity towards projects that demonstrate financing, permitting progress and a credible commitment to implementation.

For project developers, buyers and lenders, however, the reform also introduces a new category of execution risk: a project may lose its grid position not because its technical connection solution has changed, but because a connected licensing, permitting or procedural deadline was missed.

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1. The investment story has changed

Until recently, an investor reviewing a Romanian renewable energy or BESS project might have approached the grid package in a relatively familiar way.

The seller would present:

The immediate questions would typically concern the connection point, reinforcement works, connection costs, completion dates and whether the operator or the user was responsible for contracting the relevant works.

Those questions remain important. But they are no longer sufficient.

Consider a project with a valid ATR, a signed grid connection agreement and a technically acceptable connection solution. The seller describes the project as “grid secured.” Yet the establishment-authorisation application has not been submitted, the contractual signing date has been calculated incorrectly, the agreement expires before the applicable regulatory deadline, and the financial guarantee was issued on wording that does not permit a further extension.

On the surface, the grid documentation exists. In legal and commercial substance, however, the project may be only months away from losing its grid position.

That is the central change created by the May 2026 reform. Grid rights must now be treated as a continuously maintained regulatory asset.

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2. What legal documents were amended?

The reform must be read as an interconnected package rather than as a single amendment.

2.1 ANRE Order no. 15/2026

ANRE Order no. 15 of 21 May 2026, published in the Official Gazette no. 436 of 25 May 2026, amended:

2.2 ANRE Order no. 16/2026

ANRE Order no. 16 of 21 May 2026, published in the Official Gazette no. 439 of 25 May 2026, amended the regulation governing establishment authorisations and electricity-sector licences approved by ANRE Order no. 6/2025.

Among other changes, it introduced:

2.3 The ATR and grid connection agreement remain statutory templates

It is important to use precise terminology.

There is no entirely separate “2026 ATR” that supersedes ANRE Order no. 74/2014, and there is no entirely separate “2026 grid connection agreement” that supersedes ANRE Order no. 105/2022.

The applicable documents remain:

• the ATR framework under Order no. 74/2014, as amended; and
• the two grid connection agreement frameworks under Order no. 105/2022, as amended.

Therefore, the legally relevant comparison is between:

• the consolidated framework applicable before 25 May 2026; and
• the consolidated framework applicable from 25 May 2026.

This distinction matters because several mechanisms frequently described as part of the “new 2026 framework” were actually introduced earlier.

3. The reform in one comparison table

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4. The 20% grid connection guarantee

4.1 Which projects are covered?

The revised Article 31 of the Connection Regulation requires a financial guarantee before the ATR is issued for:

where the total approved capacity for export and/or consumption is greater than 1 MW.

The amount is 20% of the connection tariff excluding VAT.

This wording contains several important details.

First, the threshold is more than 1 MW, not “at least 1 MW.” A project approved at exactly 1 MW should therefore be distinguished from one approved at 1.01 MW.

Second, the test is based on approved capacity for export and/or consumption. It is not automatically determined by:

For a BESS project, at least four figures may be relevant:

1. installed power;

2. approved maximum export power;

3. approved maximum absorption power; and

4. storage capacity expressed in MWh.

Those values should not be conflated.

4.2 Consumption-only projects remain under a different rule

A consumption-only site with approved consumption above 1 MW is not automatically subject to the new 20% regime.

For such sites, the guarantee remains 5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT and applies where upstream reinforcement works are required to create the technical conditions for connection.

This distinction is especially important for industrial consumers, data centres and projects with substantial auxiliary load.

4.3 The guarantee must be constituted before the ATR

For projects falling under Article 31(1), the guarantee is not merely a post-ATR contractual obligation.

The user must constitute it before issuance of the ATR and provide evidence:

• within a maximum of two months after the network operator communicates the approved solution study, where the study establishes a single solution; or
• within the period applicable to the user’s selection of the preferred solution, where the study presents multiple alternatives.

Failure to provide the evidence causes the solution study to lose validity and the connection application to be closed. The procedural mechanism was already developed before May 2026. What changes commercially is the magnitude of the security.

A developer who previously planned for a 5% guarantee may now need to arrange an instrument four times larger before the ATR can be issued.

4.4 The grandfathering rule depends on communication, not document date

The new 20% amount does not apply where the network operator had already communicated the guarantee amount to the user before 25 May 2026.

The decisive event is therefore not necessarily:

The relevant question is when the operator communicated the amount under the applicable procedure.

For transactions involving projects that were mid-process on 25 May 2026, the data room should contain the original operator communication and reliable evidence of its date. A spreadsheet entry prepared by the developer is not sufficient.

4.5 The calculation base excludes VAT

The revised legislation expressly calculates the percentage against the connection tariff excluding VAT.

Where a network operator previously calculated a guarantee by reference to a VAT-inclusive amount, it must, at the user’s request, return the difference between:

• the guarantee calculated on the VAT-inclusive tariff; and
• the guarantee calculated on the tariff excluding VAT.

This remedy also applies to guarantees constituted before 25 May 2026. It is not, however, necessarily automatic. The transitional provision is triggered by a request from the user.

An investor acquiring an existing project should therefore recalculate every outstanding grid guarantee rather than relying on the nominal amount shown in the instrument.

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5. The establishment authorisation becomes part of the grid-right chain

The most important legal change is not the guarantee increase. It is the integration of the ANRE establishment authorisation into the survival of the grid position.

5.1 Which projects are covered?

The new deadline applies to places of production and places of consumption and production with approved export capacity greater than 1 MW.

Through the updated statutory terminology, the framework also captures the relevant storage configurations, including standalone storage installations.

The threshold used here is approved export capacity. This differs from the principal guarantee test, which refers to approved export and/or consumption.

A project can therefore fall within one test without necessarily falling within the other in precisely the same way.

5.2 The two contracting models

Romanian law retains two framework grid connection agreements.

#### Model 1: the network operator contracts the connection works

Under Annex 1 to Order no. 105/2022, the network operator concludes the contract for the design and/or execution of the connection installation.

For qualifying projects, the user must obtain the establishment authorisation:

• before the network operator concludes the execution contract for the connection installation
• no later than 12 months from conclusion of the grid connection agreement; and
• no later than 18 months from issuance of the ATR.

These are cumulative outer limits. The earliest applicable deadline must be respected.

#### Model 2: the user contracts the connection works

Under Annex 2, the user directly concludes the design and/or execution contract with an ANRE-attested contractor.

In this model, the establishment authorisation must be obtained:

• within no more than 12 months from conclusion of the grid connection agreement; and
• within no more than 18 months from issuance of the ATR.

The deadline is not tied to an operator-side execution contract because the user controls that contracting route.

5.3 The earliest date controls

An investor should not record only “12 months from GCA” in the development schedule.

Depending on the project, the operative deadline may be:

The project must satisfy the earliest applicable deadline unless a legally effective extension applies.

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6. Relief mechanisms: useful, but narrower than they look

6.1 ANRE completeness relief

Where, before expiry of the original deadline, ANRE determines that both:

• the application for the establishment authorisation; and
• the accompanying documentation

are complete, the deadline is extended by up to 60 days necessary for ANRE to issue and communicate the authorisation.

This relief is frequently misunderstood.

A filing receipt is not necessarily sufficient. Nor is evidence that a courier delivered the documents or that the application received a registration number.

The statutory trigger is ANRE’s determination that the application and documentation are complete.

Furthermore, the legislation says “up to” 60 days. It should not automatically be modelled as a guaranteed full 60-day extension.

6.2 One justified extension of up to 12 months

The network operator may extend the authorisation deadline once, by a maximum of 12 months, where the user provides supporting documents demonstrating that the authorisation cannot be obtained in time for justified reasons not attributable to the applicant.

The wording gives the operator a decision-making role. It is not an automatic entitlement merely because an application is delayed.

The request should therefore:

6.3 The operator’s ten-business-day response period

The operator must communicate its agreement or refusal within ten business days from submission of the supporting documents.

Where it fails to respond in time, the relevant deadline is automatically extended by a period equal to the operator’s delay, capped at 12 months.

This mechanism should not be confused with automatic approval of the full requested extension. The automatic period corresponds to the duration of the operator’s delay in responding.

6.4 Evidence must be transmitted “with celerity”

Once obtained, the building permit and establishment authorisation must be transmitted to the network operator “with celerity.”

The Regulation does not define a fixed number of days.

For transaction and compliance purposes, the safest approach is immediate formal transmission through a channel that produces:

• proof of dispatch
• proof of receipt; and
• an operator registration number.

Holding the authorisation internally without promptly delivering it to the operator creates avoidable evidentiary risk.

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7. What happens if the authorisation is not obtained?

If the establishment authorisation is not obtained within the applicable deadline, taking into account any valid relief:

• the ATR ceases to be valid; and
• the grid connection agreement terminates automatically.

This is a statutory consequence. It does not depend on the operator first issuing a conventional contractual termination notice.

The same events are also incorporated into:

A representation that the ATR and GCA are “valid as of signing” is not enough. The buyer must determine whether they are likely to remain valid through closing and after closing.

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8. Continuing validity is as important as initial issuance

Obtaining the establishment authorisation once is no longer the end of the analysis.

Where the authorisation subsequently ceases to be valid, the grid connection agreement terminates automatically six months later unless ANRE has granted a new establishment authorisation during that period.

The verb matters.

Primary source and connected advice

ANRE's official May 2026 announcement confirms the principal 20% connection guarantee, the 12 and 18-month authorisation deadlines, the EUR 20,000/MW capacity-allocation guarantee and the EUR 30/kW establishment-authorisation guarantee. Project conclusions must still be checked against the published orders, transitional rules and the project's own chronology.

Legal work on grid connection and permitting, ANRE regulation and energy disputes should be coordinated with technical grid-interface review and, for financed projects, lender's technical advisory.

This article is general information and does not constitute legal or technical advice for a specific project.