Romania relies on Bulgaria and the wind after shutting down Cernavoda nuclear plant

14 August 2026

Strong wind, the prosumers shifting their input during peak hours, and the imports from Bulgaria helped Romania’s power system on the first day after Nuclearelectrica shut down its last reactor on August 13, leaving the country without nearly 20% of its electricity production. 

The electricity provided by the storage facilities reached a power of 600 MW during the peak hours, close to the 680 MW provided by each of Cernavoda's two reactors before shutdown. Household prosumers with storage capacities are not financially stimulated to deliver electricity to the national power grid, but save it and use it later.

"The worst case scenario is that the wind stops blowing, because today the wind blew, it blew over the [past] weekend as well. There were days when we had very good wind power production. So, if we can no longer rely on wind, this will complicate our lives. If, for example, something happens and we cannot import as much from Bulgaria, that will complicate our lives again," expert Eugenia Gusilov explained, speaking to Digi24.

(Photo: Welcomia/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com

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Romania relies on Bulgaria and the wind after shutting down Cernavoda nuclear plant

14 August 2026

Strong wind, the prosumers shifting their input during peak hours, and the imports from Bulgaria helped Romania’s power system on the first day after Nuclearelectrica shut down its last reactor on August 13, leaving the country without nearly 20% of its electricity production. 

The electricity provided by the storage facilities reached a power of 600 MW during the peak hours, close to the 680 MW provided by each of Cernavoda's two reactors before shutdown. Household prosumers with storage capacities are not financially stimulated to deliver electricity to the national power grid, but save it and use it later.

"The worst case scenario is that the wind stops blowing, because today the wind blew, it blew over the [past] weekend as well. There were days when we had very good wind power production. So, if we can no longer rely on wind, this will complicate our lives. If, for example, something happens and we cannot import as much from Bulgaria, that will complicate our lives again," expert Eugenia Gusilov explained, speaking to Digi24.

(Photo: Welcomia/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com

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