energiaTa in a nutshell
energiaTa is a Romanian initiative that finally changed a law in Romania making the energy prosumers a reality at the beginning of 2019, after 3 years of hard work.
Due to that work today there are +150 energy prosumers and in 2020 there will be more than 33.000 energy prosumers in Romania, having a big impact on our country’s energy transitions and the acceleration of transition towards a green carbon-neutral economy.
Website / Facebook Page / Facebook Group
Team of energiaTa
I cofounded energiaTa in 2016 with my good old friend and NGO partner, Claudiu and we were also lucky enough to have Eduard from the very beginning as a technical consultant. In 2019 our team grew to 4 people, bringing Dalia on board in helping us to create the Prosumer’s Guide. Our team is small, but our community is big.
History of the initiative
In 2016 the Energy Union already envisioned having ‘the citizens at its core’ where they can ‘take ownership of the energy transition, benefit from new technologies to reduce their bills, participate actively in the market and where vulnerable consumers are protected’.
Meanwhile, Romania had no plans in creating a legal framework or a plan for prosumers and we were in the last place in Europe at PV installation time, with over 450 days needed. And even after all this waiting, you still weren’t paid for the energy sent into the grid.
On top of that, what we discovered from the first meetings with the authorities was that they did not even know that this problem existed in Romania, and they blamed it on the lack of demand. We proved that demand existed, and the problem was the legislation which made energy prosumers impossible.
To solve the problem we created Romania’s first energy prosumers Community, by brining every decision-maker and stakeholder on board. We did that by starting a series of round-table events at the EFdeN House.
After 2 years of work, on July 20, 2018, the law of 184/2018 was approved by the President of Romania, a law that defines the term of prosumer, essential tax simplifications and the obligation of distributors and suppliers to accept prosumers.
But in order for prosumers to exist, we also needed to have the secondary legislation in place. After 5 more months, on December 28, 2018, three orders 226, 227 and 228 were approved, which together with law 184 provides the legislative framework for ensuring the right of the final consumers to become prosumers and to be remunerated for the electricity supplied to the network.
Therefore, starting with 2019, after 3 years of work, there are finally prosumers in Romania, small producers of clean energy, from renewable sources, energy which can be injected into the network.
3 types of Challenges: Awareness, Technical and Political
- Make decision-makers aware of the problem
- Prove that this is an important issue and there is public demand
- Map all the problems related to the problem
- Develop real solutions that will work for every party involved
- Get the legislative support to pass the law in Parliament
- Let people know they can become energy prosumers and teach them how to do that
Our simple but effective Strategy
In order to reach our goals (reduce the duration needed for installing PVs and ensure the right of the final consumers to become prosumers) we approached the problem from 3 directions:
- National Campaign (we talked about this problem everywhere: events, media, forums, etc. We also needed to make everyone aware of this issue and the importance of it so we created the Energy Prosumers Community to bring expertise and awareness)
- International Support (we searched for other best-case examples, we discussed with members of the European parliament, with other countries’ energy authorities)
- Legislation and Norms (we mapped problems and developed solutions together will the relevant stakeholders, decision-makers and industry experts. We tries to find the perfect compromise and we believe we succeded)
We went everywhere: conferences, labs, events
I knew that increasing awareness was critical to our success, so Claudiu and I participated in more than 30 energy events where we exposed the current problems and expressed the need for unblocking the prosumers market, including Aspen Energy Labs, ZF Power Summit, InvestEnergy, Energynomic, etc. Furthermore, together with Romania Green Building Council, we had a national campaign with 10 events in 8 major Romanian cities: Cluj Napoca, Bucharest, Iași, Brașov, Galați, Timișoara, Craiova and Târgu Jiu.
energiaTa Energy Prosumers Community
energiaTa was not the only NGO to address to energy prosumers issue in Romania, but we were the first ones to bring at the same table all the decision-makers and stakeholders: people willing to become prosumers, representatives of Energy Authorities, Minister of Energy and Minister of Development, members of the government, other NGOs and media institutions. Together, we all provided support and recommendations and put enough pressure to have the legislation changed, both primary and secondary.
In order to assure the passing of the law, we worked to introduce energy prosumers in our country’s National Energy Strategy and actively participated in parliamentary committees along the legislative process, or met the Minister of Energy. Across the process, other two NGOs proved to have an important contribution, PATRES and Greenpeace Romania. Even if at the beginning the public authorities were not part of the group, along the way they proved to be very open and communicative, willing to solve the problem.
The first conference of energy prosumers in Romania
On February 19th, 2019, we have organized the first conference in Romania about energy prosumers with over 150 participants including representatives from the public authorities, distributors, installers and prosumers. We had more than 100 people watching livestream, video available here.
Energy Prosumer’s Guide
On the 24th of May, we organized another event to launch the Guide on How to become an Energy Prosumer [Romanian language only]. We tried to explain everything about solar energy, the technical equipment needed, myths and advice in order to generate awareness. We tried to make it as easy as possible for anyone to become a prosumer, explaining every step of the process.
So how does the law look today
According to the law no. 220/2008, the prosumer is the final customer who owns electricity production facilities, including cogeneration, with a power of less than 27kW, whose specific activity is not the production of electricity, who consumes and can store and sell electricity from renewable sources produced in his building, including an apartment block, a residential area, a shared service location, commercial or industrial or in the same closed distribution system.
- Green electricity producers
- Households, blocks, private or public HQs, commercial or industrial spaces
- Installed power <27kW
- Production for own consumption, not commercial activities
energiaTa in numbers
- In 2 years we had over 110k views on the energiaTa.org website and over 55k unique viewers
- >7000 members of the prosumers community
- >6000 followers of the facebook page
- 15 k comments in the community
- 25,5 k reactions in the community
Media Coverage [+60]
Awards
- Defense of individual / collective rights – Gala Societății Civile 2019
- Special Award for Innovation – Gala Societății Civile 2019
What’s next for energiaTa
We aim to promote energy prosumers in Romania, to make as many people aware of the changes and that this is something now possible. Our next milestone is 1.000.000 energy prosumers in Romania and our long term mission is bringing the energy sector in Romania to carbon-neutral, before 2050.
Above everything else, we are happy and proud we proved that when people come together, they can have a big impact and even change the law and that young people can have a critical role in creating the change our country needs.
We are always open to share with other initiatives that have similar goals in any industry or one any cause that aims to have a positive impact in society, to protect people or the environment and create prosperity for all.
PS: Join the Energy Prosumers Community. Romanian language only, btw.