In 2022 Spain created a scheme called OTC - Oficina de Transformación Comunitaria. In four years, dozens of new communities have appeared, free of charge for citizens and municipalities, through local operators 80% funded from public money. Romania can do the same. That is what we propose to the Ministry of Energy and MIPE (the Ministry of Investment and European Projects).
Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 59/2025 gave energy communities a legal status of their own, and ANRE (Romania's energy regulator) Orders 9/2026 and 50/2026 opened up the market and the register to them. EU funds under PTJ (Programul Tranziție Justă, Romania's Just Transition Programme, funded by the EU Just Transition Fund) are open, with a €102.8 million call dedicated precisely to them. Even so, in Romania the first pilot communities are only now being registered, and dozens of initiatives remain stuck at the intention stage. What is missing is not the law, and not the money - it is someone to carry the whole file from one end to the other. An operator.
In October 2022, Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition published Order TED/1021/2022. The scheme creates 'community transformation offices' - local operators (NGOs, cooperatives, municipalities, agencies) that set up and run energy communities for citizens, SMEs and public authorities. Free for the beneficiary, 80% public subsidy for the operator.
The scheme runs across the whole of Spain. In Castilla-La Mancha alone there are 44 active OTC projects.
Both countries have transposed the same European directive (RED III). Both have allocated recovery plan (PNRR) and PTJ funds. The difference is not in laws or budgets - it is in the institutional infrastructure that takes the concept from law to reality.
A proposal to the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Investment and European Projects (MIPE) and the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE). Replicating the Spanish model, adapted to the Romanian administrative ecosystem.
An order defining the legal role of 'Operator de Comunitate Energetică' (Energy Community Operator, OTC RO), eligibility criteria (NGOs, cooperatives, municipalities, local agencies), the minimum services (setting up, securing funding, coordinated installation, monthly operation) and the subsidy level (suggested: 80% of operating costs, in line with Spain). Legal basis: OUG 59/2025 + OUG 163/2022 + Law 123/2012.
Hybrid funding: PTJ for the JTF-eligible counties (Gorj, Hunedoara, Dolj, Prahova, Mureș, Galați - the areas with the most to gain), the Modernisation Fund through the Ministry of Energy for the rest of the country, LIFE for capacity building. Estimated pilot budget: EUR 30-50 million for years 1-3, enough for 50-80 active OTCs.
The registration procedure for the ANRE national register of energy communities (approved by ANRE Order 50/2026) needs to be supplemented so that it explicitly recognises the OTC as the community's legal representative in dealings with ANRE and the DSO. A standardised reporting package, with a single submission by the operator for all the communities it manages.
A pilot call launched alongside the PTJ calls already open, for the first 10-15 organisations that want to become operators. Priority pilot projects: Valea Jiului (the Jiu Valley: its 6 local authorities, with an EIB + European Commission partnership already under way), Petroșani (Green Smart District), Cluj + Sebeș (Beacon Cities IN-PLAN), Buteni (rural pilot). Evaluation after 12 months, scaling up to 50+ in year 2.
Stup de Energie is ARSC's energy community project. We don't come as a beneficiary asking for a subsidy - we come as an organisation that has already done the groundwork and is proposing the framework.
ARSC - Asociația Română pentru Smart City, the Romanian Smart City Association - is an NGO founded in 2016 and a national partner of the Covenant of Mayors. It has coordinated ten years of urban transformation programmes. Stup is our permanent programme on community energy.
We already have the institutional relationships (DG ENER, CINEA, FEDARENE, REScoop), legal expertise in cooperative and association structures, contact with mayors in the JTF regions and - importantly - our relationship with Coaliția Energie Comunitară (the Community Energy Coalition, CEC), Cooperativa de Energie and local technology partners (YellowGrid).
What we are asking for is not a direct contract for us. It is the framework. If the scheme is launched, ARSC will apply like any other organisation. But without a framework, the ecosystem stays stuck - and the EU money stays unspent.
We are preparing a detailed technical memo, with a budget calculation, a proposed legal framework and a pilot plan. We are requesting a working meeting in this format: ARSC + the Ministry of Energy + MIPE + an ANRE representative + 1-2 pilot mayors.
The memo includes: the proposed text of the joint order, OTC eligibility details, the subsidy structure, integration with existing PTJ calls, the 2026-2028 pilot timetable and monitoring indicators.
Request the technical memo →If the proposal makes sense to you and you want to be on the list of organisations supporting it, write to us. We are collecting institutional signatures before the official submission to the ministry.
Who we are asking for support: municipalities in the JTF regions, NGOs active on energy/climate, existing cooperatives (Cooperativa de Energie, ÎntreVecini), local agencies (ALEA Alba), universities with power engineering departments (UPB, UTCN), European partners (REScoop, FEDARENE, Energy Cities).
I support the proposal →The Smart City Romania network, run by ARSC
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