Romania‘s Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) is planning not to run a grant program aimed at household solar installations this year. The Casa Verde photovoltaic program, first announced in 2018, previously offered non-repayable funds to homeowners installing solar, covering up to 90% of system costs.
After last year’s edition was suspended, with the government citing a lack of financial capacity for the program at the time, Romania’s Association of Prosumers and Energy Communities recently published a statement announcing that previously allocated funds for the program were being redirected to water and sewer projects in AFM’s budget for 2026.
Local press in Romania is now reporting that the country’s Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests is planning to transform the Casa Verde program into a grant scheme for batteries aimed at prosumers, of which there are now over 250,000 in the country.
Irene Mihai, policy director at the Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association (RPIA) confirmed to pv magazine that despite the postponement of the Casa Verde program for the second year in a row, there will be support available to solar prosumers via other channels.
“In 2025 we had a dedicated programme with a similar funding rate, covering 90% of capital expenditure, financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Facility. In 2026, there is a proposed budget of €76 million ($88.4 million) for hybridization through storage systems for residential and C&I installations,” Mihai explained. “The exact eligibility criteria and implementation details are not yet known, but based on the information currently available, the financing is expected to target prosumers with existing PV installations.”
Mihai added that the focus of public support in Romania is gradually shifting from expanding solar capacity toward improving system flexibility and self-consumption through battery storage.
According to data published by Romanian Energy Regulatory ANRE, around 850 MW of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity has already been installed by prosumers. “This indicates that storage is increasingly being perceived not only as an add-on technology, but as a key component of a more efficient and resilient rooftop PV system,” Mihai said. “While the BESS programme may not fully replace the deployment levels created by Casa Verde, it should help sustain investment activity among existing prosumers and support the maturation of the Romanian rooftop PV market.”
Mihai also told pv magazine that the Casa Verde program helped towards the installation of more than 3.7 GW of solar across all prosumers in less than four years
“Since 2023, we have had a stable growth of the segment of 1 GW per year,” Mihai said. “In 2026, we saw 100 MW of month-to-month growth through the end of February, so, despite the lack of the Casa Verde program, we expect to continue to see strong rooftop PV growth.”
Romania installed 2.2 GW of solar last year, a record in a calendar year for the country, taking cumulative capacity in excess of 7 GW.
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