Romania’s electricity imports shrink fivefold y/y to 1.8% of internal consumption
Romania’s electricity production rose by 6.2% y/y to 22.3 TWh in January-May, while the internal consumption (end-user and technological) contracted by 1.6% y/y to 22.7 TWh – resulting in a much smaller net reliance on imports.
While the net imports plunged fivefold y/y to 0.4 TWh or 1.8% of internal consumption (9.0% in the same period last year), the gross imports contracted by only 11.8% y/y to 6.9 TWh and remained at 30.3% of total internal consumption. The expensive imports at peak hours, coupled with exports carried out at low prices during solar installations’ high output, put pressure on internal prices.
Indeed, part of the exports are to Moldova, hence not surplus solar power matched by expensive peak-hour electricity – but Moldova’s total consumption is a tenth of Romania’s and the neighbouring country is already covering up to half of it from domestic resources. The volume of cheap solar peak electricity exports thus accounts for a large part of total exports.
In the first five months of 2026, Romania’s electricity production from hydro, solar and wind installations rose by 23% y/y and accounted for 52% of total production. All three segments posted high growth rates, with the solar production (+35% y/y) standing out. Planned outage at the nuclear plant Cernavoda kept its output (4 TWh) 12.3% down y/y, and the thermal power generators were used to a lesser extent (-4.4%) compared to the first months of 2025.
On the consumption side, end-user consumption dropped by 3.4% y/y to 20.2 TWh, dragged down by the residential segment (-11.3% y/y to 4.5 TWh) on the back of more solar panels installed (only their output delivered to the grid is counted in total solar electricity production, while the amount used by prosumers is not counted in total solar output). The economy used 0.8% less electricity (15.5 TWh).
The export of electricity rose by 13.1% y/y to 6.5 TWh in the first five months of the year, while the imports contracted by 11.8% y/y to 6.9 TWh.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Nataliia Babinska/Dreamstime.com)
