How to read a Romanian ATR, point by point

What an ATR approves

Each of the seven ATRs opens with one long sentence. It names the connection request and its date, the holder, the date the request’s file was complete and the regulation applied, ANRE’s Order 59/2013. Then it gives the decision, which the form writes as an approval of the connection on the conditions that follow. In the ATR issued on 19 August 2025 for a 0,399 MW solar park in Cisnădie, it reads:

The conditions follow in numbered points. The ATR does not complete the connection. Point 7 says that the holder concludes a connection contract with the operator and pays it the connection tariff. Delgaz Grid’s cover letter to the Chimcomplex ATR lists ten steps from there to final energisation, among them the works, the file of the holder’s own installation, the operating agreement, the tests and, where the technical norms require one, a certificate of conformity. The last step is the connection certificate (certificat de racordare).

The opening sentence also says why the ATR was issued. Cisnădie’s was for a new installation (“Instalatie noua”). Vrancart’s, NTN-SNR’s and Târgoviște’s were for a power increase (“Spor de putere”) at a site that was already connected. The ATR for a solar plant in Arad was for a technical change to the existing connection installation, with no added power. When an ATR concerns a site that is already connected, the first column of the power table at point 2 shows the situation when it was issued. Ask for the documents behind that figure, such as the earlier ATR and the connection certificate.

In the seven ATRs cited here, the issuer is the distribution operator whose grid the site joins: Distribuție Energie Electrică Romania for four of them, and Rețele Electrice România, Delgaz Grid and Distribuție Energie Oltenia for one each. The regulation has the ATR issued by the operator whose grid the user’s installations join (article 25 (1)), so a site that connects to the transmission grid receives its ATR from the transmission operator, Transelectrica.

Where each condition sits

The seven ATRs look different on the page. Each operator has its own letterhead and table layout, and the form of Rețele Electrice România is written without diacritics. Points 1 to 20, however, deal with the same subjects in the same order in all seven. Only point 21 differs, and the ATR of Distribuție Energie Oltenia adds a point 22.

The common order follows the framework content of the ATR approved by ANRE Order 74/2014, as amended, most recently by Order 15/2026, which network operators must observe when they issue ATRs (article 2 (1)).

Points 1 and 2: what connects, and how much power

Point 1 lists what will be connected, in tables for synchronous and asynchronous generators, solar panels and inverters, HVDC systems, storage and the site’s internal services. A solar ATR fills the panel and inverter tables and leaves the others empty or out. The Cisnădie ATR lists 867 panels of 0,460 kW, 398,820 kW in direct current, and four inverters of 100 kW, 400 kW in alternating current (page 2).

Point 2 is the approved power. Its table has a column for the situation when the ATR was issued and one for each stage up to the final one, each valid from a date. Its rows give the power that may be exported, the export allowed before grid reinforcement works are done, and the power that may be drawn from the grid, each in kW and kVA. In the Cisnădie ATR the first column shows 0,000 kW, and each of the five stages, dated 18.08.2025 to 18.08.2029, allows an export of 398,800 kW (433,000 kVA) and a draw of 390,000 kW (433,333 kVA), on pages 3 and 4.

Not every ATR dates its stages. The Arad and Crușeț ATRs date only the final stage, Chimcomplex’s has only a final stage, with no date, and Târgoviște’s dates none. A stage without a date does not say from when its power applies, so ask the operator.

What kW, kVA and kWp measure in these tables, and how to read a figure such as 179,280, are explained in a separate note.

What kW, kWp, MW and MWh measure in a Romanian project file →

Point 3: where and how the site connects

Point 3 starts from the study or sheet that set the connection solution. The Cisnădie ATR names a solution study approved by the operator’s technical committee on 9 July 2025, document 301SB. The study is not attached to the ATR. Ask for it, because the ATR gives its results without its reasons.

Point 3 then gives the connection point, where the site joins the operator’s grid. In Cisnădie it is at 20 kV, on the overhead line PA 9 - Cisnădie, between poles 63 and 64. Letter c) lists the works for the connection installation, here a new 20/0,4 kV substation of 630 kVA and about 1,800 m of 20 kV underground cable. Letters e) and g) give the metering point and the delimitation point, where the holder’s installations are separated from those operated by the network operator.

Letter d) lists the works needed to reinforce the operator’s existing grid upstream of the connection point, in two categories: (i) works needed only for this site’s export, and (ii) works that create the conditions to connect several sites. Point 8 gives their cost within the connection tariff, and point 11 their estimated deadline.

How the line is filled in matters. The NTN-SNR and Crușeț ATRs write “nu este cazul” (not applicable) in both categories, and Chimcomplex’s writes “NU E CAZUL”. The Cisnădie, Vrancart and Târgoviște ATRs print a dash at (i) and nothing at (ii), and the Arad ATR a dash at both. A dash or an empty line says neither that works are needed nor that they are not. In Cisnădie, the 0,00 lei for reinforcement works at point 8 points the same way as the dash, but only the operator or the solution study can confirm it.

If works are needed and the operator cannot finish them by the date the holder asked for, point 11 lists the holder’s options, which article 43 (3) of the regulation sets out. The holder can give up the site, wait for the works, build in stages within the export allowed before reinforcement, or pay for the operator’s works when the delay comes from their absence from its investment plan, and be repaid as the contract provides. In four of the seven ATRs (Cisnădie, Arad, NTN-SNR and Chimcomplex), a fifth option lets the first site to be energised pay the other users’ share of shared works and recover it from them later, through the operator.

Point 4: protections, monitoring and limits on export

Point 4 sets what the holder’s installation must have. The Cisnădie ATR requires protections against overcurrent, against voltage and frequency outside set limits and against directional faults, a class A power quality analyser, and the online transmission of active and reactive power, voltage, current, frequency and breaker position to the operator’s dispatcher (page 5).

Point 4 (5) covers a connection with operational limitation of export: the situations, described in the solution study, in which the plant’s export is limited because of the grid. Where the holder opted for such a solution, point 18 (4) applies:

The holder cannot claim compensation from the operator for the energy it could not produce and deliver during the limitation. The rule comes from article 17 (1⁵) of the regulation, not only from the ATR. None of the seven ATRs fills in a limitation. The Vrancart, Crușeț and Târgoviște ATRs do not print these lines at all, although the framework form has carried point 18 (4) since June 2022 (Order 82/2022). A buyer should still look for a limitation in point 4 and in the solution study, because it can reduce revenue with no compensation.

An ATR can also approve a plant that exports nothing. Chimcomplex’s connects a 14 MW solar plant to the site’s own installation:

Point 4 of the same ATR requires the site’s own dispatcher to keep export to the grid at zero through its SCADA system (pages 7 and 8).

Points 8 and 10: the tariff and the guarantee

Point 8 gives the connection tariff. In the Cisnădie ATR it is T = TR + TU + TI, DEER’s labels for the components the form lists. TR covers designing and building the connection installation, 1753876,85 lei. TU covers checking the file of the holder’s installation and energising it, 2577,30 lei. TI covers the reinforcement works, 0,00 lei. The total is 1756454,15 lei including VAT (page 6). Other ATRs print the components without a total, and not every figure includes VAT, so read each one with its own words, “inclusiv TVA” or “fara TVA”.

The tariff in the ATR is not final. The Cisnădie ATR says that it is updated when the connection contract is concluded if ANRE’s tariffs have changed, and, where it was set on a cost estimate, to the prices in force on that date (point 8 (6) and (7)). The figure to rely on is the one in the connection contract, with the proof of payment.

Point 10 gives the financial guarantee that the holder constitutes in the operator’s favour under article 31 of the regulation. None of the seven ATRs states an amount. Cisnădie’s writes “0,00 lei, reprezentând 5% din valoarea tarifului de racordare” beside a tariff of 1756454,15 lei. NTN-SNR’s also gives 0,00 lei and 5%, Vrancart’s and Târgoviște’s give 0,00 lei and 0,00 %, Crușeț’s writes “0.00 lei, reprezentând 0.0 %”, the Arad ATR prints dashes, and Chimcomplex’s writes “nu este cazul”.

A zero does not say whether a guarantee was required. Under the regulation as amended in May 2026, the operator asks for a guarantee for a new production site or a new consumption-and-production site, including one with storage, for a standalone storage installation, or for a power increase, when the total approved power for export and/or consumption is above 1 MW (article 31 (1)). For an older ATR, the applicable rule must be checked against the text and any transitional provisions relevant to that case; the ATR date alone may not determine which version applies. Ask whether a guarantee was required, and for the proof that it was constituted, such as a bank guarantee letter or the payment order. The Cisnădie ATR adds that the operator executes the guarantee if the holder does not sign the connection contract before the ATR expires, or asks for the ATR to end (point 10 (3)).

Points 19 and 20: how long the ATR is valid

Point 19 says how long the ATR is valid and when it ceases earlier. The Cisnădie ATR opens it this way:

The ATR therefore stays valid until the connection certificate is issued for the final stage, unless one of the situations in paragraph (2) comes first. In all seven ATRs these include the end of the connection contract, the expiry of the permits and approvals the ATR was issued on, and their annulment or end found by a final court decision. The deadline for concluding the connection contract, and what follows if the guarantee is not proven, differ:

The NTN-SNR and Cisnădie ATRs also say that the ATR ceases, and the connection contract ends by law, if the building permit is not sent to the operator. For the NTN-SNR and Cisnădie ATRs, issued in 2025, the wording “nu este transmisă operatorului de rețea” (is not sent to the network operator) matched article 36 (6) as then in force. From 25.05.2026, article 36 (6), as amended by ANRE Order 15/2026, ties the cessation to a building permit that is not obtained within the applicable terms. Cisnădie’s ATR adds the holder’s own request.

Some of these differences follow changes in the rules, and some do not. The letter of the framework form that the Vrancart and Crușeț ATRs print as a three-month term for proof of the guarantee was repealed in February 2023 (Order 4/2023), before either ATR was issued. The holder’s own request and the case in article 34 (1³) entered the framework form on 1 June 2025 (Order 20/2025), and Cisnădie’s ATR carries them. The regulation and the framework form both set 12 months to conclude the connection contract. Neither, in the form we read, sets 11 months, as Cisnădie’s ATR does, nor has Târgoviște’s clause on the guarantee. Order 15/2026 added two more cases in which an ATR ceases, both tied to the establishment authorisation (autorizație de înființare) issued by ANRE.

So point 19 of an ATR can differ from the rules in force on its date. Which text governs an ATR already issued can be a legal question. Compare point 19 with the regulation in force when the ATR was issued, but also check later amendments and transitional provisions that may apply to an already-issued ATR; where applicability remains unclear, ask counsel.

The request for the connection contract cannot wait until the twelfth month either. Article 34 (1) describes the ATR as the operator’s connection offer and requires the holder to request the connection contract in writing at least 45 calendar days before the ATR ceases to be valid. If the operator finds the documentation incomplete and asks for it to be completed (article 34 (1¹)), article 34 (1²) requires the holder to complete it at least 15 calendar days before the ATR ceases to be valid. Under article 34 (1³), failure to meet either applicable obligation causes the ATR to cease to be valid when the corresponding deadline expires.

Point 20 gives the term to contest the ATR with the operator. In all seven it is 30 days from the date the ATR was communicated.

What to check in an ATR

• Is the holder named in the opening sentence the company being bought, and is the place the project’s site? If the holder is another company, on what basis did the ATR and the contract pass to the target?
• Why was the ATR issued: for a new installation, a power increase or a technical change? For a change, ask for the earlier ATR and the connection certificate behind the first column of point 2.
• Do the panels and inverters at point 1 match the project’s design, and does the approved export at point 2 match the power the price assumes?
• Which stage of point 2 is in force, and from which date? Is the export lower until reinforcement works are done?
• Are reinforcement works listed at point 3 d)? A dash or an empty line is not “nu este cazul”. If works are needed, what do points 8 and 11 say about their cost and deadline?
• Can export be limited under point 4 (5)? If so, point 18 (4) leaves the holder without compensation for the energy lost.
• Has the ATR lapsed? Check when the connection contract was requested and signed against article 34 (1) and point 19, and whether the building permit was obtained within the terms of article 36.
• Does the tariff in the connection contract match point 8 or its update, and was it paid?
• Was a guarantee required on the ATR’s date, given the threshold in article 31, and is there proof that it was constituted?
• Are the permits and approvals the ATR was issued on still valid?
• Does the file hold more than one ATR for the site? Ask how they relate: an update of an earlier ATR, a duplicate, or a separate connection.

How ELARID reads an ATR

ELARID reads an ATR point by point and records each figure with its unit, its page and the words it was read from. When the lines for reinforcement works hold a dash or nothing, it records that the ATR does not say, not that no works are needed. When a file holds two ATRs with different values, it shows both and does not take the newer ATR as proof, and a person chooses the value and gives a reason. When the connection contract or the proof of the guarantee is missing from the file, it lists them among the documents to ask for.

See how ELARID shows a project →