The first grid capacity auction was undersubscribed, and that has been reported as good news for developers. Transelectrica’s own zone data says something different.
18 August 2026 · reading time 6 minutes · every figure read directly from published data
Transelectrica publishes two numbers for each of the ten network zones: how much connection capacity is available, and how much is already queued in front of you. The queue is everything with a prior claim on the same wires: connection contracts signed, ATRs issued, solution studies under way, and applications lodged. Put them side by side and the picture inverts.
Across the country, 41,646 MW is queued against 22,325 MW available for 2026. And the offer shrinks: capacity available in 2030 is lower than in 2026 in seven of the ten zones.
| Zone | Counties | Available 2026 | Queued | Queue / available | 2030 vs 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Constanța, Tulcea, Galați, Brăila, Ialomița, eastern Călărași | 1,931 | 11,412 | 5.91x | +1,069 |
| E | Timiș, Caraș-Severin, Mehedinți | 1,117 | 3,069 | 2.75x | +183 |
| J | Bacău, Botoșani, Iași, Neamț, Suceava, Vaslui, Vrancea | 1,875 | 4,717 | 2.52x | -275 |
| B | București, Ilfov, Giurgiu, Teleorman | 2,280 | 5,245 | 2.30x | -380 |
| D | Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinți, Olt | 1,925 | 3,867 | 2.01x | -25 |
| C | Argeș, Buzău, Dâmbovița, Prahova, Vâlcea | 3,000 | 4,652 | 1.55x | -1,990 |
| I | Harghita, Mureș | 1,358 | 1,461 | 1.08x | -378 |
| H | Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Cluj, Maramureș, Sălaj, Satu Mare | 3,707 | 3,836 | 1.03x | -1,307 |
| F | Arad, Hunedoara | 3,001 | 2,389 | 0.80x | -501 |
| G | Alba, Brașov, Covasna, Sibiu | 2,130 | 996 | 0.47x | -885 |
| Total | 22,325 | 41,646 | 1.87x | −4,490 |
All figures in MW. Queued = connection contracts + ATRs issued + solution studies + applications, as published per zone by Transelectrica. Counties are as defined in Annex 4 to the allocation procedure.
Zone A — Constanța and Tulcea, plus Galați, Brăila, Ialomița and the eastern half of Călărași — carries 11,412 MW of pipeline against 1,931 MW of available capacity. Whatever the auction results say, a position there is not competing with eleven other bidders. It is competing with roughly six times its own volume of prior claims, most of which were established under the old first-come-first-served regime and sit ahead of anything filed now.
If you hold an ATR in zone A, the useful question is not what to bid. It is whether the network works your connection depends on are in Transelectrica’s plan at all, and what happens to your guarantee if they are not.
F at 0.80x and G at 0.47x are the only zones where published capacity exceeds recorded demand. Once the letters are mapped to counties the pattern is obvious rather than mysterious: F is Arad and Hunedoara, G is Alba, Brașov, Covasna and Sibiu. Inland, hilly, and nobody’s first choice for a wind farm.
Romania is not short of grid capacity in aggregate. It is short of it on the coast and along the lower Danube, and idle in the middle. Every megawatt of headroom in southern Transylvania is a megawatt a Constanța project cannot use.
Zone C — Argeș, Buzău, Dâmbovița, Prahova and Vâlcea — is the anomaly. It has 3,000 MW available and 4,652 MW queued, a real 1.55x oversubscription, and it still drew no bids. Demand exists on paper and did not turn into an auction offer. Either the pipeline there is stale, or the projects behind it cannot clear the new guarantee arithmetic. Both explanations have consequences for anyone holding a position in C, and they point in opposite directions.
This is the finding that changes how a portfolio should be sequenced, and the one nobody is discussing.
Capacity available in 2030 is smaller than capacity available in 2026 in seven of ten zones. Zone C falls from 3,000 MW to 1,010 MW. Zone H falls from 3,707 MW to 2,400 MW. Zone G falls from 2,130 MW to 1,245 MW. Only A and E grow.
The allocation period runs ten years and bidders may request capacity one year at a time. The implicit assumption in most portfolio plans is that a later year is a fallback: miss 2026, take 2028. In seven zones the later year is a worse deal, not a safer one.
The auction being undersubscribed does not mean capacity is easy to get. It means the auction is not where the competition lives. The competition is the existing queue, and the constraint is whether the network works your connection depends on exist and are funded.
Transelectrica updates the global solution study with the network reinforcement works needed to serve the allocation requests submitted between 1 and 14 July, publishes the result, and then publishes the list of auction participants.
That is when two things become knowable that are not knowable today: how much of the shortfall above is solved by planned reinforcement rather than by rationing, and who is actually bidding, by zone. Daily auction sessions begin 30 October, 08:00 to 13:00 each working day, until capacity in each zone is exhausted. This table will be rebuilt that day.
Every figure above comes from Transelectrica’s published connection capacity map and its underlying data file, retrieved 18 August 2026, and from Annex 4 to the allocation procedure. Nothing here is modelled or estimated.
These are transmission grid figures. The ATR volume in this dataset is roughly 8 GW. The 87 GW figure quoted widely in the Romanian press covers transmission and distribution together. The two do not reconcile and should never be presented as if they do.
The queue breakdown is dated 2025; available capacity is the 2026 publication. The vintages differ. The ratios are indicative of scale, not precise to the megawatt.
Two counties sit in more than one zone. Mehedinți appears in both D and E. Vâlcea sits in C, while its northern part sits in sub-zone G3. In those counties the county name does not settle which zone you are in — the network element your connection attaches to does.
Annex 4 also defines sub-zones used for 110 kV elements. Capacity is published and auctioned at the parent zone level only, so a sub-zone tells you where you sit administratively, not what you can bid for.
Why zone C drew no bids despite 1.55x oversubscription is unexplained. We have a hypothesis, not evidence.
Sources: Transelectrica, Harta capacităților de racordare disponibile · Transelectrica, Procesul de alocare a capacității rețelei electrice, Annex 4 · ANRE Order 53/2024 as amended by Order 15/2026.
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