Neutral Romania in 2050: New Energy Strategy’s Top Priorities and Strategic Objectives
Romania has committed in its LTS (Romania’s Long-Term Strategy for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Neutral Romania in 2050) to an installed wind and solar energy capacity of about 24 GW by 2035, indicating a 5-fold increase compared to the installed wind and solar energy capacities by 2021 (3 GW wind energy and 1.4 GW solar energy respectively). According to the new National Energy Strategy, installed wind and solar capacity is a key element of the energy transition.
After 17 years of delays, Romania finally has a National Energy Strategy. It was adopted by the Executive in November 2024 and for the first time sets clear directions for the development of the sector.
We are talking about six directions: energy security, clean energy, energy efficiency, affordability and economic competitiveness, efficient markets, innovation and digitalization. It is now up to the new Parliament to vote on the National Energy Strategy 2025-2035, with outlook to 2050.
“I am glad that, after about a year of consultations, of voluntary work, the Ministry of Energy has managed to promote today, in the Government, Romania’s Energy Strategy until 2035, with outlook to 2050. I would point out that in recent years there have been many moves to adopt a new strategy. Consultants were also hired. It never succeeded. Most of the time, it takes a handful of people who want to leave something behind to change things and to give the vision that tomorrow’s Romanian energy needs,” Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said.
“Romania’s energy strategy is as follows: we need secure energy, we need competitive and affordable energy for Romanians and Romanian companies, we need clean energy. In this order of priorities, the energy transition to preserve the country’s energy security means a gradual shift from coal-fired to less polluting gas-fired – and in the medium to long term, from gas-fired to nuclear. So, these are the top priorities. There are six strategic objectives, you can probably anticipate them: energy security, energy efficiency, physical access to energy for all consumers, affordability and economic competitiveness, so including the completion of the electrification process of Romania. Recently, with the support of the Intelligent Energy Association, we have managed to electrify houses in the Apuseni Mountains area, which had never had access to electricity,” the official stated.
Principles of the new strategy
The new targets are guided by clear principles, such as prioritizing security of supply, developing the circular economy and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. By adopting this strategy, Romania demonstrates a clear commitment to a secure, affordable and clean energy future. It is an important step towards transforming the energy sector into a pillar of economic development and a factor of regional stability, says a statement issued by the Ministry of Energy.
According to the document, Romania is committed to protecting critical infrastructure, reducing dependence on imports by using its own resources and digitizing the sector. At the same time, Romania’s energy security includes supporting the Republic of Moldova.
The second direction aims to ensure the lowest possible prices for consumers, both household and industrial, preventing energy poverty and supporting economic competitiveness.
According to the ministry’s representatives, Romania continues to be a European leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining a balance between security, affordability and green transition, this being the third direction.
“Romania faces global and regional pressures, including market fluctuations, climate change and the effects of the war in Ukraine. The strategy offers solutions through investment in modern technologies, supply chain consolidation, digitalization and innovation. The document is the result of a year of intensive work by experts from the Ministry of Energy, together with companies, public institutions, civil society and members of the Honorary Energy Council. Unlike previous attempts, the Strategy did not involve external consultancy and did not generate additional costs for the public budget,” the press release added.
Renewable energy, 86% of consumption
The strategy foresees that renewable energy will account for 86% of consumption by 2050. Romania’s target for the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption is 41.1% by 2035 and 86.1% by 2050, according to the draft.
“The targets will be achieved mainly by increasing the installed capacity of hydro, wind, solar and geothermal energy production, as well as by partial electrification of heating and cooling systems. Biomass will continue to play an important role, but its share in total RES will fall from 52% in 2023 to 29% in 2035,” the document says.
In terms of electricity generation, Romania aims to maintain its diversified energy mix, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a sustained increase in generation capacity from low or zero emission sources. The target for 2035 is to reach an installed electricity generation capacity of 40 GW, an increase by 95% compared to 2020.
Of the projected capacity for 2035, about 82.1% will come from renewable sources, thus ensuring the use of domestic resources for electricity generation.
“Romania has committed in the LTS to an installed wind and solar energy capacity of about 24 GW by 2035, indicating a 5-fold increase compared to the installed wind and solar energy capacities by 2021,” according to the document.
All nuclear power generation capacity is also expected to remain relatively constant, with the introduction of new capacity from 2029. Hard coal and lignite capacity is planned to be phased out by the end of 2031, while natural gas capacity will be ready to use green gases, such as hydrogen, from 2036.
At the same time, the estimated trajectory foresees the installation of new combined heat and power capacity based on hydrogen, biomass and biogas, as well as new hydro capacity by 2050. In order to achieve these objectives, Romania’s ability to attract European funding for the development of renewable generation projects needs to be increased in order to secure the necessary financing mechanisms.
Proposals for heating and cooling of homes
In the heating and cooling sector, in addition to high-efficiency cogeneration, alternatives will be used, such as: biomass-based production in small urban areas; alternative renewable heating sources for individual dwellings and new housing developments; renewable heating alternatives; district alternatives from renewable sources; individual or collective solutions such as heat pumps (either stand-alone or in a ‘hybrid’ configuration with a gas condensing boiler), or thermal and solar panels.
Projects will also be promoted to recover waste energy from industry, where it is available and can be used in heating and cooling systems.
“The share of RES – H&C will account for 42.9% of gross final energy consumption in the heating and cooling sector by 2035 and 75.8% by 2050, due to the increased use of heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and green gases such as green hydrogen. At the same time, in order to reach the estimated trajectory of the share of RES – H&C foreseen in the strategy – Neutral Romania by 2050, it is necessary to install 10 MW of new biomass cogeneration capacity each year until 2050, as well as 5 MW of new hydrogen cogeneration capacity per year between 2031 and 2040, and 40 MW each year from 2041 to 2050,” the draft also states.
The strategy foresees increasing the share of heat pumps for heating and cooling processes and reducing the share for biomass and natural gas. The share of heat pumps in the useful energy demand for heating and cooling in 2050 will be 25% in the Neutral Romania scenario.
In addition, in order to reach the trajectory estimated in the strategy, the share of solar thermal collectors in the total useful energy required for water heating will be 28% in 2030 and 54% in 2050 in urban areas, respectively 16% in 2030 and 33% in 2050 in rural areas.
2.5 GW total installed capacity by prosumers in 2030
With regard to the development of distributed energy production and self-generation, the objective is to encourage the adoption of prosumer technologies and increase the installed capacity of distributed energy production. The aim is to reach a target of 2.5 GW total installed prosumer capacity by 2030.
“This transition to a distributed energy system will enable consumers to reduce their energy costs and produce clean and sustainable energy,” the document says.
GHG emissions reduced by 89% compared to 1990
By 2035, Romania aims to make a fair contribution to achieving the EU’s decarbonization target and will follow best environmental practices. The support schemes for RES, the evolution of the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, in conjunction with an increase in the performance of renewable energy technologies, relative to the decrease in investment and operational costs, will accelerate the energy transition in Romania, the cited source pointed out.
GHG emissions from the energy sector are projected to reach 11.1 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2035, an 89% reduction since 1990.
With the implementation of existing policies and measures, the share of RES in gross final energy consumption is expected to increase to 41.1% in 2035 and 86.1% in 2050, from 24.4% in 2020. Wind, solar, hydro power and biomass will have the largest shares of total RES in 2035. By 2050, renewable hydrogen could also make a major contribution, reaching a share of almost 30% of gross final energy consumption from RES.
Coal-fired units will be replaced
The share of RES in electricity (RES-E) will reach 58.5% in 2035 and 80.4% in 2050, due to the construction and commissioning of new RES-E capacities (mainly wind and solar). At the same time, several coal-fired units are expected to be replaced by gas-fired combined cycle and
RES units, retrofitting of existing nuclear units, construction of new large nuclear units and the first small modular reactors (SMRs) by 2035.
In addition to RES (hydro, wind and solar), clean nuclear and low-emission gas-fired generation capacities will be expanded for a diversified and balanced low-carbon energy mix.
The modernization of existing cogeneration plants and the construction of new units to replace existing polluting capacity will result in increasing the energy efficiency of the aggregates of the operating power plants and promote the production of electricity and heat in high-efficiency cogeneration plants.
“In 2050, total electricity production will exceed 100% of gross final consumption, as part of it will be used for the production of green hydrogen,” the draft says.
New investments needed after 2050
At 2050 level, a new investment cycle will be needed to replace the generation capacities installed in 2020-2030, which will reach the end of their service life. This will also impose the need to find solutions for recycling or safe storage of used components.
In the horizon of the same year, it is estimated that 15-20 GW installed in intermittent generation plants at National Power System level will need to be balanced. In this respect, in addition to existing capacities, there is an opportunity to develop large-capacity battery systems or geographically dispersed medium or small-capacity battery systems as a marginal solution in the balancing market.
In this direction, technologies that are currently costly but could become economically feasible and timely, depending on technological progress and developments in the energy sector, are hydrolysis fuel cells based on energy from RES and other low-carbon energy technologies, the paper points out.
