The Romanian government intends to secure €16bn of European Union funds to modernise its energy sector, with a focus on renewables and on climate change. The EU funding could lead to the installation of 6.9 GW of renewable capacity between 2021 and 2030.
The country has an installed capacity of nearly 21 GW, 60% of which is CO2-free (32% hydro, 14.5% wind, 7% solar, 7% nuclear) and 40% thermal (18% oil, 15% coal, 6% gas, and 1% biomass) (end of 2020). In 2020, 64% of the power mix was CO2-free (28% hydropower, 20% nuclear, 12% wind, and 3% solar). Coal and lignite still cover 18% of this mix and gas 17%.
Romania aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2030 covered by the ETS sector by 43.9% compared to 2005 level and outside the ETS sector by 2% relative to the 2005. In addition, renewables are expected to reach 30.7% of gross final energy consumption. Finally, Romania intends to achieve 40% of energy savings relative to a business-as-usual scenario (Primes 2007) by 2030.