The Ministry of Energy has published a draft bill that
brings major amendments to the renewable law no 220/2008, including new price
limits and transaction changes for green certificates, which represent one of
the main revenue generation channels for renewable energy producers in Romania.
The amendments are included in a draft government ordinance
that is currently under debate. Thus, the government proposes the enforcement
of an annual obligation for the acquisition of a constant number of green
certificates for 15 years starting 2017. This option was selected by an
inter-institutional group comprising representatives of the Ministry of Energy,
the Ministry of Finance, energy regulator ANRE, the energy stock exchange
OPCOM, the Competition Council and grid operator Transelectrica.
There was also a second scenario that included the
acquisition of a fixed quota, respectively 90 percent of the total number of
green certificates that are issued and reinserted yearly.
The two scenarios were based on a report made by
London-based Economic Consulting Associates that was presented to the Ministry
of Energy and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The authorities commented that the scenario that was
selected “fulfils the conditions for providing the optimum solutions for
continuing to support the renewable energy sector, with a bearable impact on
the bills of final consumers, on the backdrop of economic development.”
The 12-month expiry date for green certificates could be
removed
According to the draft bill, the green certificates will be
valid from the date it is issued to December 31 2013. Under the current legal
provisions, the certificates are valid for one year.
“Through the proposed change, there will be a number of
green certificates that remain untraded, with the option for the surplus of
green certificates to be sold during the period in which the support scheme is
working at a lower estimated price,” said the government.
In addition, the government proposes the extension of the
delay period, up to December 31 2017, for wind and small-hydro technologies and
the extension of the delay period, up to December 31 2024 for solar
technologies.
“The delay regarding the transaction of the green
certificates is required to ensure a better sale rate of green certificates to
market participants. For technologies based on solar energy, the delay up to
2024 is required because if we look at the Internal Return Rate, we can see a
major discrepancy between the IRR of renewable producers,” according to the
bill.
Meanwhile, the reinsertion period for green certificates of
wind and hydro producers will be of 8 years, starting January 1 2018 up to
2025.
For solar producers, the reinsertion period will extend for
6 years from January 1 2025 to December 31 2030.
Furthermore, the green certificates will gain value on the
moment of the transaction and not of the issuance.
New regulated price limits for green certificates
The price limits for the sale of green certificates will
also be changed with a floor price of EUR 25 per certificate and a ceiling
price of EUR 55 per certificate. The new regulated limits from 2017 to December
31 2031 will be of EUR 25 to EUR 35.
As of August 2016, Romania had 2.9 GW of wind capacities and
1.3 GW of solar installations enrolled in the support scheme, according to
Transelectrica. The biomass capacities accounted for around 100 MW, while small
hydro had 317 MW.
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