The Romanian renewable energy microgeneration market

This article is aimed at showing that the unsuccessful market segmentation, the consumers’ lack of information and the absence of some programs meant to educate consumers with regard to the benefits of adopting renewable energy sources (RES), together with the poor control of the marketing strategies of producers and suppliers, are considered the main causes that slow down the development of the market. We then proceeded with the identification of the factors that influence the activity of the suppliers of microgeneration equipment of energy from renewable sources. This article presents the interpretation of the results of an online questionnaire applied over the period 2010 –2011 to a sample composed of Romanian suppliers of RES equipment, with emphasis on the main characteristics of the suppliers, as well as on the factors that influence their entry on the market and on the problems they face. According to the findings presented in this article, the suppliers’ entry on the market is determined to a great extent by the business opportunity they identify; they also consider that the lack of the consumers’ education regarding the benefits of adopting RES is the main factor that influences their business. Generally, the products sold by suppliers are presented as being environmental friendly and as contributing to energy bill savings. The article also presents a profile of the consumer, as seen by the suppliers, the two main features identified by the latter being the high financial potential and the inclination towards saving money on the energy bill.