Casa Verde solar panels and grid connection: what to do after installation (2026 guide)
Every year, the Casa Verde Fotovoltaice programme helps thousands of Romanian households put solar panels on their roofs. And every year, a predictable wave of frustration follows a few weeks later: “the panels are up, so why is my bill the same?”
The answer is almost always the same. The panels are installed, but the system is not yet connected to the grid as a prosumator (prosumer — a consumer who also produces electricity). Until that happens, nothing is injected into the grid, nothing is offset against your bill, and a good part of what your system produces is simply wasted.
Full transparency before we go further: SUN WATT SRL (ANRE certificate no. 19761) is not a Casa Verde installer. We do not sell or mount panels, inverters or batteries. We handle the part that comes after — the connection dossier, the ATR, the bidirectional meter through the operator and the connection certificate — in Bucharest, Ilfov and Giurgiu. That part is what this 2026 guide is about.
How Casa Verde works, in plain terms
Casa Verde Fotovoltaice is a national financing scheme run by the AFM (Administrația Fondului pentru Mediu — the Environmental Fund Administration). Stripped of bureaucratic language, it works like this:
- You apply for financing, in line with the AFM guide in force for the current session.
- If accepted, the state covers a significant part of the cost of a residential photovoltaic system.
- The system is supplied and installed by an installer validated by the AFM — you choose from the approved list.
- The installer mounts the panels, the inverter and the related equipment, and handles the paperwork towards the AFM.
The financing amounts, eligibility rules and session calendar change between editions, so always rely on the AFM guide in force rather than last year’s forum threads.
Here is the detail that matters: the programme’s job ends, broadly speaking, when the system is installed and the AFM paperwork is settled. Connecting that system to the distribution grid as a prosumer is a separate process, with a different institution (the distribution operator), different documents and a different timeline.
The good news is that the operator treats your case as a standard one. According to the information published by Rețele Electrice România, “panels on a house that is already connected to the grid — financed from your own funds or through Casa Verde” is one of the officially listed prosumer connection scenarios, valid for installed power under 400 kW, and each scenario comes with its own dedicated application annex. In other words, you are not asking for an exception; you are following a path the operator has already mapped out.
Why the panels alone do not lower your bill
A photovoltaic system creates value in three ways:
- Self-consumption — you use the energy at the moment it is produced.
- Injection — the surplus is fed into the public grid.
- Offsetting — the surplus you feed in is credited against the energy you draw from the grid at night or in winter, in line with current ANRE regulations.
Without the prosumer connection, only the first mechanism works — and often only partially, because the inverter is typically configured in zero-export mode until the operator approves the connection. You cannot legally inject energy into the grid without approval, and no supplier will offset energy that is not measured by an official meter.
That official measurement is done by the bidirectional meter: a smart meter that separately records the energy you consume from the grid and the energy you feed into it. It is fitted exclusively by the distribution operator — in Bucharest, Ilfov and Giurgiu, that is Rețele Electrice România S.A. You cannot buy or fit it yourself.
The steps after installation: becoming a prosumer
Step 1: Prepare and submit the connection dossier
The dossier includes the connection application, your ID and property documents, the technical data of the system (panels, inverter), conformity certificates and the single-line diagram of the installation. We have published a detailed guide on how the prosumer connection application works if you want to see exactly what the operator expects.
This is the stage where most delays are born: an incomplete dossier means the operator requests clarifications and the clock restarts. SUN WATT prepares the complete connection dossier, design included, from 900 lei.
Step 2: Obtain the ATR
The operator analyses your request and issues the ATR (aviz tehnic de racordare — Technical Connection Approval): the document that sets out the technical solution, the approved power and the connection tariff. Nothing moves forward without it. If you already have a file in progress and just need help unblocking it, ATR assistance starts from 350 lei.
Step 3: Bring the installation in line with the ATR
The technical solution in the ATR may require adjustments on your side — protection settings, inverter parameters, sometimes works on the connection itself. Two situations come up regularly with Casa Verde systems, and we cover them below.
Step 4: The bidirectional meter
Once the dossier is approved and the installation is compliant, Rețele Electrice România S.A. fits the bidirectional meter and enables the system for injection.
Step 5: The connection certificate and the prosumer contract
The operator issues the certificat de racordare (connection certificate), the document that officially confirms your prosumer status. With it, you sign a prosumer annex or contract with your electricity supplier, and offsetting finally starts. From this point on, your Casa Verde system is doing what the brochure promised.
Who does what: a clear split of responsibilities
| Task | AFM-approved installer | Grid connection company (SUN WATT) |
|---|---|---|
| Mounting panels, inverter, structure | Yes | No |
| AFM financing paperwork | Yes | No |
| Connection dossier and design | Sometimes — ask! | Yes, from 900 lei |
| ATR follow-up with the operator | Sometimes | Yes, assistance from 350 lei |
| Bidirectional meter | No (operator only) | Coordination with the operator |
| Connection certificate and supplier contract | Rarely | Yes |
The “sometimes” rows are where homeowners get burned. Some installers include the full prosumer paperwork, some submit the initial application and stop there, and some leave it entirely to you. Ask explicitly, in writing, what your contract covers — ideally before the panels go up.
Two situations that catch Casa Verde beneficiaries out
Your connection is single-phase, but the system needs three-phase
Depending on the power of the photovoltaic system, the technical solution may require a three-phase connection. If your house currently has a single-phase supply, this is additional work with its own paperwork — at SUN WATT, three-phase conversions start from 2,900 lei.
Your approved power is lower than what the system needs
The power stated in your existing connection documents may not match the new reality of a producing household. In that case you will need a power increase (spor de putere), which we handle from 350 lei.
This distinction matters more than it looks: Rețele Electrice România publishes separate scenarios — with separate annexes — for systems of up to 10.8 kW depending on whether the installed power stays within or exceeds the approved absorbed power of your existing connection. Filing under the wrong scenario is one of the small mistakes that quietly adds weeks to a Casa Verde file.
Neither situation is a catastrophe — but both add weeks if discovered late. A short technical assessment before or right after installation avoids the surprise.
How long does all of this take?
Honest answer: from a few weeks to a few months end-to-end. The variables are the completeness of the dossier, the operator’s workload, and whether your connection needs the changes described above. The formal processing terms are set out in current ANRE regulations and in the ATR itself; for orientation, the operator’s published term for evaluating the application and documentation is 10 working days, and for establishing the technical solution and issuing the ATR it is 30 calendar days — these are the terms Rețele Electrice România publishes for the standard process, not guarantees for every individual file. The practical lever you control is submitting a complete, correct dossier the first time.
The bottom line
The Casa Verde programme pays for the hardware. It does not, by itself, make you a prosumer. Between “panels on the roof” and “smaller bills” sits a bureaucratic corridor — dossier, ATR, bidirectional meter, connection certificate — that someone has to walk down.
If your installer covers it, perfect. If not, or if your file has been stuck for months, that corridor is our daily job. SUN WATT handles the complete prosumer grid connection in Bucharest, Ilfov and Giurgiu — from the first document to the moment offsetting starts — with a personalised quote based on your system and location.
Call us at 0733 097 440 and tell us where your file is stuck. We will tell you, honestly, what is missing and how long it should take.