Romania Cuts Industrial Output to Ease Power Shortage

Bucharest residents cool off on one of the hottest days of August by passing through a water-spraying device installed in the city centre, August 3, 2026. Photo: EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT More than 80 of Romania’s largest energy-intensive companies, including car manufacturers, steel producers, fertilizer plants and other major industrial consumers, are to begin maintenance work or scale back production from Tuesday, to ease pressure on the national power grid. The measures come as a prolonged heatwave drives electricity demand to seasonal highs while severe drought has sharply reduced hydropower generation and affected operations at Romania’s only nuclear power plant, at Cernavoda, on the Danube River. Car plants operated by Renault-owned Dacia and Ford are to temporarily halt production until August 19, voluntarily cutting electricity consumption by around 200 MW. Major wood-based panel manufacturer Kronospan will gradually suspend part of its production, reducing electricity consumption by up to 50 per cent, BIRN has learned. The measures follow a government meeting with representatives of the largest industrial consumers on Monday at which interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan urged companies to reduce or reschedule electricity consumption, particularly during the evening peak hours. “We are facing a regional energy crisis. Between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. we have a significant electricity deficit, which we are covering through imports,” Bolojan said. He also called on households, local authorities and public institutions to voluntarily reduce electricity consumption during the evening peak. He added that Romania had discussed emergency electricity imports with Ukraine, including possible supplies from one of the country’s nuclear power plants. The government declared a nationwide alert in the energy sector on July 31 for the entire month of August, citing severe drought and exceptionally low water levels in the Danube and other rivers. Romania’s sole nuclear power plant at Cernavodă shut down one of its two reactors late last week. The continuing fall in the Danube’s water level is also threatening the plant’s second reactor, raising the prospect of a further drop in domestic electricity production. The Cernavoda plant supplies around one-fifth of Romania’s electricity. In an emergency operation on Monday, the Romanian Navy detonated a massive rock formation obstructing the flow of water towards a Danube branch supplying the Cernavoda plant. Authorities hope the intervention will allow the remaining reactor to continue operating beyond the four to five days it was expected to remain online if water levels continued falling at the current rate. Low water levels on the Danube are expected to continue threatening operations at Cernavoda at least until mid-August. Energy experts say the authorities’ decision to reduce electricity consumption by both industry and households should help stabilise the system in the short term. However, Romania lacks a coherent national energy strategy, according to energy expert Ciprian Cherciu. “Romania should have invested more in refurbishing its hydropower plants and building new generating capacity, as well as in expanding wind and solar energy, which could provide an alternative when the nuclear plant cannot operate at full capacity, as is the case now”, Cherciu said. “Above all, Romania should have invested in developing electricity storage capacity. This is an area where the country remains significantly underdeveloped”, he added.