Romania Cuts Renewable Energy Incentives

Posted: Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Romanian government has decided to cut the number of green certificates hydro, wind and solar energy producers will receive for projects launched after January 1, local media reported on Wednesday.

"New wind projects which become operational starting with January 1 will receive 1.5 green certificates for each megawatt hour instead of two [certificates], solar projects will receive three [certificates] instead of six and hydro power plants will receive 2.3 certificates instead of three," financial daily quoted the head of Romanian energy regulator ANRE, Niculae Havrilet, as saying.

Energy distributors in Romania are required to purchase green certificates for every MWh of power they sell. The certificates are issued to wind, hydro and solar power producers who can sell them directly to distributors or trade them on the state-owned power market, OPCOM. The distributors then pass on the cost of buying the certificates to their customers.

In June, the Romanian government decided to temporarily suspend as of July 1 the issuance of some of the green certificates for which hydro, wind and solar energy producers are eligible in a bid to reduce the price of electricity for final consumers. The deferred certificates will be clawed back starting from March 31, 2017, for hydro and solar power producers and from January 1, 2018, for wind energy producers.

(SEENews)