Romania Becomes a Net Exporter of Electricity Once Again
In the night from Thursday to Friday, Romania has once again become a net exporter of electricity, thanks to the cooling down of the heatwave which led to a decrease in consumption, the reactivation of reactor 1 at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant with a capacity of 700 MW, and a significant increase in energy production from wind parks, which has been extremely low in July, according to data analyzed by Profit.ro.
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For almost the entire month, Romania has not been able to meet its electricity needs from domestic production, importing heavily, especially during the evening peak consumption, leading to dramatic price increases on the wholesale spot markets.
The national energy system has now shifted, with Romania once again exporting more electricity than it imports, marking a positive turn of events after a period of heavy reliance on imports.
Electricity Export Surplus in Romania
Starting at 2:33 last night, Romania had an electricity export surplus of 5 MW, with production exceeding consumption. Generation was recorded at 5,452 MW, while consumption was at 5,447 MW, with wind power contributing 1,043 MW and nuclear energy 1,292 MW, according to Transelectrica data.
By 11:02, Romania was exporting 655 MW, with a total production of 6,571 MW, where wind power had the largest share (1,336 MW), against a consumption of 5,916 MW.
Close to 1 PM, the export surplus reached 842 MW. On the next day’s spot market (PZU), the hourly quotation for the evening peak consumption at 9 PM decreased from 2,888 lei/MWh to about 1,521 lei/MWh.
Things changed slightly after 5 PM, when due to an increase in consumption and a decrease in production, the export surplus decreased.
Increasing Energy Production in Romania
Recently, Romania has faced challenges with its energy supply due to strong winds affecting the output of wind farms. As a result, the country had to rely on imports to meet its energy demands, with imports reaching 630 MW at one point. To address this issue, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, has implemented short-term measures to boost domestic energy production.
These measures include activating additional capacity of several hundred MW, primarily from coal-fired power plants at the Oltenia and Valea Jiului Energy Complexes, as well as from gas-fired plants such as the South Bucharest Thermal Power Plant operated by ELCEN.