ANRE approves 115.5 MW/230 MWh Tesla battery in Brăila — NRG-IA

Romania is adding another major project to its energy storage map. ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS S.R.L. has received an establishment authorization from ANRE for the Tudor Vladimirescu storage facility in Brăila County, designed with a 115.5 MW power rating and 230 MWh energy capacity . Theoretically, this configuration allows it to deliver its nominal power for nearly two hours—a scale sufficient to make the battery a highly relevant asset for system flexibility and energy trading across different price intervals and market conditions. The project is linked to the European portfolio of the NGEN Group and will utilize Tesla Megapack systems, a technology confirmed in European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) documentation for NGEN's storage investments. The grid connection is planned at Transelectrica's Lacu Sărat substation, elevating the project's significance far beyond its 230 MWh size. Transelectrica describes Lacu Sărat, a 400/220/110/20 kV substation, as the largest electrical substation in Romania. A battery located near such a node is not just a local energy reservoir, but an asset directly connected to the infrastructure that transports and redistributes large volumes of electricity across the National Power System. 230 MWh enters a market growing month by month At the beginning of September, Romania had approximately 1,084.72 MW of installed capacity in storage facilities and 2,310 MWh of energy capacity , according to Transelectrica data. Just a month earlier, energy capacity stood at approximately 1,975 MWh, meaning the system added over 300 MWh in a single month. Compared to the 2,310 MWh in place on September 1, the Tudor Vladimirescu battery has a capacity equivalent to nearly 10% of Romania's entire storage volume at that time . This comparison highlights the scale of the project, though it does not mean national capacity will increase by exactly 10% upon commissioning; by then, other facilities may be connected, substantially altering the baseline. This acceleration is also visible in ANRE's regulatory decisions. During the Regulatory Committee meeting on September 3, approximately 669 MW of the newly authorized capacities for establishment were storage projects , including around 429 MW of standalone facilities and approximately 240 MW of capacity co-located with other energy projects. Batteries are thus beginning to transition from a phase dominated by planning, permits, and intent toward actual authorization, construction, and commercial operation. Tesla supplies the technology, NGEN builds the market model EBRD documentation shows that NGEN is developing a portfolio of five storage facilities across Romania, Slovenia, Poland, and Latvia, with an updated total capacity of approximately 302 MW and 604 MWh . The Bank is financing the portfolio through a secured senior loan of up to €70 million , as part of an investment estimated at around €163 million. The €70 million sum does not exclusively fund the Brăila project, but rather the entire multinational NGEN portfolio. For the Romanian Lacu Sărat project, previous EBRD documentation indicated an investment of approximately €62 million and confirmed that the battery supply contract had already been signed. The configuration in those documents was 115 MW and 246 MWh, whereas the current ANRE authorization details indicate 115.5 MW and 230 MWh, signaling that the project was reconfigured prior to receiving its final permit. The systems belong to the Tesla Megapack/Megapack 2XL family. Tesla features in the project as a technology provider, not as an investor or battery operator. The commercial model described by the EBRD is market-driven. NGEN's assets are designed to participate in energy trading and system services, with their operation optimized via the group's proprietary energy management platform. A 230 MWh battery can purchase or absorb energy during periods of abundance and discharge it later when the system and market value it most. At the same time, its rapid response capability enables participation in frequency regulation, balancing, and other ancillary services. Lacu Sărat begins to attract hundreds of MWh in battery projects The NGEN project is not the only storage investment planned for this area of Brăila. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is separately documenting the Aukera Lacu Sărat project, planned at 300 MW and 600 MWh , located approximately 1.2 kilometers from the Lacu Sărat substation and about 1.5 kilometers from the Tudor Vladimirescu commune. This project is part of a broader portfolio of storage investments being developed by Aukera in Romania. Local administration documents also indicate connection infrastructure being prepared for a separate project by ZEN Energy Group Lacu Sarat BESS . Multiple independent projects with capacities in the hundreds of MW and MWh are thus clustering around the same transmission substation. This concentration could transform Lacu Sărat into one of the most…