Welcome to SHAREs+ 
in Romania

Citizen participation in energy projects in Romania has traditionally been limited, and political support for energy communities has often been uncertain. In recent years, however, significant progress has been made. This progress has been driven by the active involvement of municipal authorities and local utilities in collective actions, as well as growing awareness among Romanian citizens about the benefits of community energy models. Despite this, structural challenges persist. Romania still requires additional practical experience, technical assistance, economic incentives, and legislative improvements to adapt and scale successful models. In Romania, SHAREs+ addresses these needs through targeted activities implemented by Cooperativa de Energie.

Within the project, Romania is recognized as an emerging country in the process of developing a national framework for energy communities. At the same time, it serves as a pilot country for citizen-led thermal renewable energy projects and engagement models for vulnerable consumers.

As the national partner of the SHAREs+ project, Cooperativa de Energie embodies the very values the project promotes: citizen engagement, transparency, and participatory energy transition. Through SHAREs+, the cooperative supports the creation of new energy communities across Romania, provides mentoring to local initiatives, and contributes to shaping the national legislative framework. For more details on Cooperativa de Energie's involvement in the project, visit: cooperativadeenergie.ro/shares/

Cooperativa de Energie is the first community in Romania dedicated to supplying 100% renewable electricity, certified with guarantees of origin. Founded in November 2019 by 15 founding members, using an European Regulation, with the aim of bringing the Romanian consumer to the center of the energy market, Cooperativa de Energie operates on a democratic principle — each member holds one vote, regardless of their contribution to the share capital.

From the very beginning, Cooperativa de Energie set out to do more than supply clean energy — it aimed to shift the balance of power in Romania's energy market towards citizens. In a landscape where collective energy action was largely absent from public debate and consumer participation was limited to passive bill-paying, Cooperativa de Energie introduced a fundamentally different model: one where citizens are active participants, co-owners, and decision-makers in their own energy future.

This founding vision aligns directly with the goals of the SHAREs+ project. By establishing trust, demonstrating that citizen-led energy is both viable and replicable, and building a growing community of engaged members, Cooperativa de Energie has laid the groundwork upon which a broader movement for community energy in Romania can develop.

Building on the success of the SHAREs+ National Gateways, the project seeks to replicate and enhance this model in Romania, a country where the legislative framework for energy communities is still taking shape and practical barriers remain significant. In this context, Cooperativa de Energie does not start from scratch — it brings with it real experience of democratic operation, a community of active members, and a deep understanding of the specific challenges of the Romanian energy market.

Through SHAREs+, Cooperativa de Energie contributes directly to the launch of new energy communities and the support of existing ones, providing them with access to decision-making tools, legal and financial resources, business models adapted to local realities, and assistance in navigating a regulatory framework that remains incomplete.

The conceptual dimensions of the project — integrate, enhance, learn, and empower — are directly reflected in the way Cooperativa de Energie operates on a daily basis: integrating new members and tools, consolidating the capacity of local communities, learning from the experience of European partners, and empowering Romanian citizens to become active agents of their own energy transition.

For far too long, the conversation around energy in Romania has taken place without the people it affects most. The National Citizen Energy Forums organized within the SHAREs+ project set out to change this — bringing citizens, local authorities, and policymakers together in a structured dialogue dedicated to identifying and removing regulatory barriers and exploring funding opportunities available to energy communities in Romania.

To support this broader work, Cooperativa de Energie operates through two main channels. The first, cooperativadeenergie.ro, serves as the cooperative's primary platform — a space where citizens can join, engage, and participate actively in the energy transition. The second, comunitatideenergie.ro, acts as the national information hub dedicated specifically to energy communities in Romania, offering structured guidance, practical resources, and up-to-date information for anyone looking to understand or create a citizen-led energy initiative.

Despite the progress made in recent years, Romania continues to face significant obstacles to the development of energy communities. The legislative framework, although it has taken steps forward through the formal recognition of renewable energy communities, remains incomplete and difficult to apply in practice. The transposition of European directives into concrete regulations is advancing slowly, and the secondary legislation needed for the effective functioning of energy communities is slow to materialize. This legal uncertainty discourages citizen initiatives and makes access to financing more difficult.

Beyond legislation, there remains a need for practical experience, technical assistance, and real economic incentives to make community models viable in the long term. At the same time, dedicated strategies are still needed to support vulnerable consumers in joining forces for collective action aimed at reducing energy service costs and enhancing energy efficiency. Without stronger political will and a faster pace of reform, Romania risks falling behind those European countries that have already succeeded in building functional community energy ecosystems.

Cooperativa de Energie (CdE) - for all SHAREs+ project partners see here: https://cooperativadeenergie.ro/shares/