- within Technology, Consumer Protection and Antitrust/Competition Law topic(s)
May 2026 – Confusing rules around standalone battery storage have long complicated Romania’s renewable energy goals. A legislative proposal aims to fix this by offering clearer rules to support the larger projects that the country needs.
1. Agricultural land and the extra muros constraint
Under current legislation, agricultural land located outside built-up areas (extra muros) is subject to legal protection to preserve its productive potential. As a general rule, construction on such land is prohibited.
As an exception, Land Law no. 18/1991 permits the development of renewable energy projects on extra muros agricultural land, provided the soil quality falls within classes III, IV, or V and the project footprint does not exceed 50 hectares. For these qualifying projects, the law waives the requirement for a Zonal Urbanism Plan (PUZ), theoretically streamlining the process to two main steps: (i) the endorsement for removal of the land from agricultural use, and (ii) the issuance of the building permit.
2. Standalone BESS: Is a battery really “renewable”?
The 50-hectare exception explicitly includes “storage units” among the facilities eligible for development on agricultural land without the PUZ requirement. However, the legal phrasing identifying these as systems “specific to the generation of electricity from renewable sources” has created significant legal uncertainty for standalone BESS (i.e., for projects “specific to the generation of electricity from renewable sources:solar energy generation capacities, wind energy, energy from biomass, bioliquids and biogas, electricity storage units, transformer substations, or other similar systems that can be located on agricultural land located outside a city, with a maximum area of 50 hectares”).
Considering the wording of the law, some authorities argue that a BESS unit not physically co-located with a wind or solar farm does not qualify for the PUZ exception. The reasoning is that a battery is a storage medium rather than a “generator” of renewable energy (as the law describes it). Under this view, a standalone BESS requires a full PUZ to transition the land status to “buildable” territory (intra muros).
3. New legislative proposal
The pending legislative draft amending and supplementing certain legislative acts dated 10 September 2025 introduces two major improvements designed to eliminate current procedural barriers.
It proposes (i) extending the current 50-hectare limit to 100 hectares for renewable energy projects and explicitly clarifying that (ii) Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) qualify for the PUZ exception on extra muros land. Under this proposal, developers would follow the standard formal procedure to reclassify agricultural land and directly obtain a building permit for standalone BESS projects.
These changes could significantly accelerate the permitting process and unlock further investments in green infrastructure in Romania.
We are closely monitoring the progress of this draft law as it advances through parliament.
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