Romania installs 2.2 GW of solar in 2025

Romania added 2.2 GW of solar in 2025, according to figures from the Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association (RPIA).

The result marks a third consecutive year of growth in Romania’s solar sector, improving on last year’s 1.7 GW, and takes total installed capacity past 7 GW. RPIA says the residential and C&I market segments each stand close to 1.8 GW in terms of cumulative capacity, while the utility-scale sector accounts for around 3.5 GW.

Last year’s additions were made up of 1 GW from prosumers and 1.2 GW in utility-scale projects. Irene Mihai, RPIA policy director, told pv magazine the core driver of residential and C&I installations in 2025 was available subsidies supporting upfront installation costs through the National Recovery and Resilience Facility and Modernisation Fund.

“It's important to note that the distribution generation segment was shaped by the 2022 energy crisis, which strengthened the role of solar as a cost-effective, competitive, and sustainable solution against price volatility,” Mihai said. “Looking into 2026, we expect the market to continue being driven by the same drivers.”

Romania’s utility-scale market enjoyed significant growth last year, with the 1.2 GW installed almost doubling the 613 MW added in 2024.

Mihai said the market benefitted from the materialization of projects that started in 2023 and 2024, driven by Romania’s streamlined renewables development framework. The utility-scale market was also supported by contracts for difference auctions in 2025, the first of which awarded 1,488 MW of solar across 26 projects.

Based on the current market outlook and projects in development, Mihai believes Romania is on track to exceed the 10 GW solar target by 2030 set in its National Energy and Climate Plan. “Given the current progress at construction sites, I anticipate that 2026 will be an even more promising year for the solar segment,” she predicted. “We expect to add 2.5 GW by the end of 2026, split between prosumers and the utility segment.”

With current market conditions proving favourable for renewable projects, Mihai said future focus should be on ensuring the effectiveness of the current framework.

Romania announced a shift to a first-come, first-served system for capacity allocations through tenders in 2025, with the first auction planned for the second half of this year. Mihai said there are still questions regarding the feasibility of the proposed timeline and associated methodology that need to be clarified and streamlined.

Mihai also suggested alignment is needed between the primary and secondary legislation procedures for obtaining operational licences that allows producers to sell electricity. “Under current provision, there is a gap period between the certification of the assets and the moment it can deliver to the network, in which the commissioned capacity is disconnected and cannot generate and monetise output,” she explained. “What's needed is a procedural alignment to ensure immediate market access once the technical requirements are met.”

Romania became an observer of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) in 2025 and has an assumed deadline of becoming a full-fledged member by January 2027, as it works towards making guarantees of origin certificates tradeable outside the country. AIB membership is likely to boost Romania’s power purchase agreement (PPA) market, which has seen 29 PPAs signed to date, comprising 15 solar, 12 wind and two hybrid solar-wind.

“Despite the market’s effervescence and the regional interest, the pool of offtakers remains limited due to the non-tradeability of the guarantees of origin,” Mihai explained, before adding that a series of steps need to be undertaken to ensure Romania’s guarantees of origin are compatibility with the European Energy Certificate System.

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