Romania enters the cold season with gas storage nearly 90% full, but with high peak electricity imports — covering 43% of consumption on Saturday evening, according to figures carried by TVR Info / Economedia and other outlets.

At 18:00 on Saturday, imports were 3,186 MW, close to available capacity of ~3,400 MW. In the evening solar drops out, wind depends on breeze, low river flows hit hydro, and some plants are offline. In a cold snap, national demand can exceed 8,000 MW.

On gas, storage is nearly 90% full but withdrawals have started: 3.4 million cubic metres in one day. Domestic output is about 23 million m³/day, imports ~10 million m³/day. The government is preparing emergency supply measures.

Risks: large peak imports and price pressure as temperatures fall. Full storage alone does not guarantee electricity needs; for consumers the stakes are both security of supply and cost.

Image: underground gas storage (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).

Sources consulted: Gas in storage, electricity from imports — TVR Info; Gas in storage, electricity from imports - MagnaNews.