Alina Oprea • 7 August, 2023 at 3:50 PM
The market for installing photovoltaic panels on residential buildings has a potential of over €800 million, according to an E-Accumulatori.ro analysis. According to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), there are currently around 88,000 blocks of flats in Romania, and the average value of an installation project is around €10,000.
"It is a market with enormous potential and which can contribute significantly to Romania's energy efficiency goals, but also to reducing the expenses of block house owners. We consider it necessary, therefore, to include owners' associations in future AFM programs of the Casa Verde type. Also, local public authorities could include the installation of photovoltaic panels in thermal rehabilitation projects, alongside the installation of heat pumps for hot water heating, which can be installed in the technical space or in the basements of buildings," stated Dan Tudose, the founder of E-Acumulatori.ro.
In the case of a five-level block of flats, an area of at least 40 sqm is required for the installation of a number of 15 photovoltaic panels, with a power of at least 6 KWh, the value of the investment reaching about €8,000 (including VAT).
In a block of flats with 10 floors, for a power of at least 15 KWh, 40 photovoltaic panels are installed on an area of at least 100 sqm, the investment amount reaching about €14,000. In both cases, the investment pays for itself in about 5 years.
Optionally, storage batteries can also be included. For a block with five levels, a battery of at least 5 KWh is needed, which costs 4,000 euros, and for a block with ten floors, one of at least 10 KWh is needed, whose price reaches €6,000.
The company has installed photovoltaic panels on housing blocks, in Bucharest, in sector 1 - in a private system, through the investment of the owner and in the Militari neighborhood - through the sponsorship of the project carried out by the Association Between Neighbors, an organization that aims to support communities of owners to become prosumers. The investment, worth approximately €5,000, consisted of the installation of a system of 15 photovoltaic panels, with a total power of 6 kWh, on a five-level block with 16 apartments.
"Currently, there is an incipient interest in the installation of photovoltaic systems on the block. E-Acumulatori.ro, ANRE certified installer supports local public and private initiatives that have proposed green urban development on the block. Communities of owners must be encouraged to produce and consume green energy. That is why, for the implementation of sustainability and on the block, it is indicated that these housing energy communities are supported and helped through various subsidy programs both by local public authorities and by the Administration of the Environment Fund", Tudose added.
Within this project, E-Acumulatori supported the procedure for acquiring the prosumer status of the owners' association.
"Together with other associations, including Greenpeace, we will insist that the legislation in the field of energy be updated with the European norms regarding energy communities, so that the energy produced jointly on the roof of the blocks can be consumed individually, by each tenant, by metering smart. At the same time, homeowner associations can re-invoice energy to tenants, for example, those who own electric cars can charge them from the sun and pay the low cost of energy to the association, reducing their own due production," added Tudose.