BUCHAREST - Private Romanian renewable energy developer Monsson has connected a battery storage project to the national grid, it said on Tuesday, one of the largest in a budding market.

Romania is seeking to meet the European Union's carbon emissions reduction goals and to bolster energy security, which has become a more urgent issue since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU state has committed to phasing out coal by 2032 and replacing it with gas, nuclear and renewable energy. As renewable energy expands, battery usage must grow to counter the intermittent supply of wind and solar power.

Monsson said the storage unit has an installed capacity of 24 MWh, part of a larger 216 MWh battery unit which will be installed by year-end. It is a hybrid photovoltaic-wind-battery project, it said.

Romania connected 624 MW of new power production capacity to the national grid in 2023 including solar, wind and hydrocarbons, almost 10 times more than in 2022.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)