Investments in photovoltaic parks are no longer profitable without energy storage capacities, given that the payback period has increased significantly, Mircea Man, secretary general of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), said on Wednesday at a specialist event.

'We notice that all the applications that come for the establishment authorisations are doubled by the authorisations for storage. If at the pioneering of the establishment of photovoltaic parks, a time estimate of 4-5 years was made (recovery of the investment, e.n.), today the term is much longer and therefore, without storage, it is no longer a profitable investment,' said Mircea Man, at the 'Energy Forum 16th Edition: Romania's Energy: from crisis to economic advantage.'

He said that investors who already own photovoltaic parks can also apply for the authorisation of storage systems, in compliance with the regulations in force.

'In compliance with the regulations voted in the committee, they can submit their documentation for storage in the existing parks. And it is even easier, because they know the road and know what they have to do,' explained the ANRE representative.

Man also drew attention to the significant differences in electricity prices recorded during the same day.

'All the elements that have been said here: nuclear capacity, the high price of natural gas, the production from renewable sources that begins to decrease during this period, with the day being shorter. All this shows us that we have a price problem and, in certain time slots, a problem of energy availability. I made this comparison before and it didn't go down well, but I think we have to admit it: before 1990 we had a consumption of 14,000 MW. Today we reach somewhere around 7,000. In certain time slots, at 12:00 it is 5 euros and at 19:00 it is 520 euros. This must say a lot, especially as both electricity and gas usage are decreasing. That shows the state of health of the Romanian economy,' he said.

At the same time, the secretary general of ANRE also presented the status of the authorisation of the new energy facilities.

'As far as the authority is concerned, I can tell you that until this month, 231 start-up authorizations have been issued for approximately 8,619 MW. During this period, only 113 licences have been granted, representing 2,312 MW, which shows that not as soon as you have issued the start-up authorisation, things lead to the completion of the respective production facility,' Man said.

The ANRE representative also presented data on the number of prosumers who have storage facilities. 'There are 400,000 prosumers, and 151,000 of them also had storage facilities.' AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Nicoleta Banciulea; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)