EU Tracker – Local heating and cooling plans in Romania
Summary
What is the status of the transposition of Art 25.6(EDD) and its implementation ?
Romania is ill prepared for transposing EED article 25.6. New regulation and the establishment of a support framework will be needed.
Romania has no regulatory or policy framework in place for local heating and cooling planning and for strategic and spatial local energy planning in general. Romania has a nearly absent support framework in place for heating and cooling planning, while the support structure for energy related projects is poorly coordinated and heavily reliant on EU-supported projects and the activities by non-governmental organisations. The absence of specific guidelines, a fragmented financial aid structure, and limited staffing resources greatly reduces the ability for Romanian local authorities to carry out strategic energy planning. Municipalities also have large difficulties accessing energy-related geodata needed to draft detailed heating and cooling plans.
Detailed assessment
The legal framework and the obligations
Preparing local heating and cooling plans is neither obliged nor encouraged by law in Romania
Overview of the legal frameworks per governance level
| National | Romania’s National Energy and Climate plan for 2021-2030, submitted in 2020, does not provide any specific measures or obligations for local authorities to develop heating and cooling planning or other energy planning documents. In its evaluation report, the European Commission deemed in the plan the level of ambition for energy efficiency to appear very low. In September 2023, Romania adopted its national Long term strategy on energy and climate. According to the selected 2050 Neutral Romania scenario, the share of RES in gross final energy consumption will be 86.1% in 2050 and 36.2% in 2030. It is stated that the increasing use of heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and green hydrogen will increase the share of RES in gross final energy consumption, in the heating & cooling sector to about 75.8% in 2050. |
| Local | All Romanian municipalities above 5,000 inhabitants are obliged to draft energy efficiency improvement programs that include short-term and mid-term measures (for a period of 3-6 years) according to article 9 of the Law on Energy Efficiency (121/2014). These however only cover the public sector, do not address heating or cooling and are not well aligned to other municipal planning documents. |
The support framework
A fragmented and nearly absent support framework
The level of support provided to local heating & cooling planning in Romania is limited across various aspects. No guidelines for strategic energy planning are provided to municipalities by the national government and municipalities are reliant on European and local networks for support. No dedicated funding streams directed to local strategic energy planning is provided, while EU-funding is mainly directed to specific projects related to energy efficiency and decarbonisation of heat. Local administrations have very limited staffing resources with competences on matters related to integrated strategic energy planning, making them heavily reliant on external contractors. Data accessibility is also a hurdle, and utilities are often reluctant to provide local authorities with data. These limitations underscore the substantial efforts needed for establishing a proper support framework for local heating and cooling planning in Romania.
Provided Support
| Technical and organisational | 1/5 | There are no guidelines or catalogues for local heating and cooling planning provided nationally to Romanian municipalities. Municipalities are reliant on technical guidance and knowledge exchange from European or domestic initiatives and networks for developing energy planning documents. Examples include Energy Cities Romania, the Romanian Energy Center and the Alba Local Energy Agency supported by the Covenant of Mayors initiative. |
| Financial | 1/5 | No dedicated funding is provided to Romanian local authorities to plan strategically for the decarbonization of heating and energy for cooling. Financial support, mainly funded by the EU, has been allocated for specific projects aimed at improving the efficiency and uptake of renewable energy sources in district heating systems; for instance through the National Local Development Program (PNDL) and the Romanian regional program 2021-2027. While EU funding from the recovery and resilience facility have been directed to building renovation, the deployment of renewable energy sources and the efficiency of district heating systems, the role of local authorities and strategic local energy planning have meanwhile been overlooked. |
| Staff & skills | 1/5 | Local authorities face obstacles in developing their energy plans due to limited resources and understaffing, making them reliant on external consultants for energy planning related activities. Some technical training and competence building are organised sporadically, often through EU-funded projects or regional development agencies. Discussions and exchanges between municipality members on energy-related activities has also been facilitated by the Romanian Municipalities Association (AMR). Most local administrations lack skills and expertise on energy-related issues, without staffing resources dedicated to energy planning. |
| Access to data | 1/5 | The lack of access to data is a major barrier for local energy planning and for carrying out sufficiently precise assessments and modelling. A centralised platform for harmonised energy-related geodata and tools for data analysis have not yet been provided to local authorities. Energy utility providers have no obligation to provide energy demand data to local authorities and are often reluctant to do so when requested. Some buildings data is available to local authorities, however not sufficiently detailed for energy planning purposes. Data on heating supply systems, energy performance standards, and building renovation, as well as the technical and economic potential of renewable energy sources is not easily available. |
