Insights
Reading Romanian energy project documents
Short, sourced notes on the documents a due diligence team reads: what a figure measures, where it comes from, and what to check before relying on it.
ATR validity after ANRE Order 15/2026: the building permit, the establishment authorisation and connection contracts in progress
Since 25 May 2026, an ATR (aviz tehnic de racordare) for a production site whose power approved for export exceeds 1 MW also ceases to be valid when the establishment authorisation from ANRE is not obtained in time, not only when the building permit is missing. For the connection contracts of such sites that were in progress on that date, ANRE Order 15/2026 sets a separate term of no more than 12 months from 25 May 2026. The ATR’s date is not enough to tell which term applies: the date of the connection contract and the date of the contract for building the connection installation are needed too.
The financial guarantee for grid connection: 5%, 20% and the dates that matter
The connection regulation provides, in article 31, for two financial guarantees in the network operator’s favour. Since 25 May 2026, for a new production site or a new consumption and production site, including one with storage installations, for a storage installation connected individually and for a power increase, with a total approved power for export and/or consumption above 1 MW, the guarantee is 20% of the connection tariff excluding VAT; for a consumption site above 1 MW, it is 5% and is required only if network reinforcement works are needed. The 20% rate does not apply to requests for which the operator had communicated the value of the guarantee up to the entry into force of ANRE Order 15/2026, so for the rate, what counts is the date of that communication, not the date of the ATR (aviz tehnic de racordare).
How to read a Romanian ATR, point by point
An ATR (aviz tehnic de racordare) is the written opinion that a Romanian network operator issues, at a user’s request and for one location only, on whether and on what technical and economic conditions a site can be connected to its grid. In the seven ATRs cited here, issued by four distribution operators, those conditions sit under the same numbered points: the power approved at each stage, the connection solution and its works, the connection tariff, the financial guarantee and the ATR’s own validity. A buyer should read each point against the connection contract, the permits and the project being bought.
Due diligence checklist for a Romanian solar or BESS project: what to request and what each document should establish
Before a Romanian solar or battery (BESS) project is built, its file should show five things: the right to use the land, an urbanism certificate and a building permit, the act that closed the environmental procedure, the grid connection documents and, where the power the project may deliver to the grid exceeds 1 MW, an establishment authorisation from ANRE. Ask for each document itself rather than a summary of it, and check who holds it, for which plots, for what power, until when and on what conditions. Many of the checks that matter compare one document with another.
What kW, kWp, MW and MWh measure in a Romanian project file
kW and MW measure power, the rate at which electricity flows; kWh and MWh measure energy, the amount delivered or stored over time. A solar plant usually carries three power figures: the panels in kWp, the inverters in kW, and the power approved at the connection point, which the ATR (aviz tehnic de racordare) records. A due diligence reading should say which of these each document gives before comparing them.
Contact
See ELARID on public Romanian project documents.
Founding pilot programme - limited availability.