Regulation and Subsidy System for E-RES
 |
1 Iulie 2009 |
 |
NÖRR STIEFENHOFER LUTZ |
Adresa
Strada General Budişteanu Constantin, Nr. 28C
010775 Bucureşti, Sector 1
Telefon
+40-21-312.58.88
Fax
+40-21-312.58.89
Website
www.noerr.com
In the larger context of EU promotingthe production of electricity fromrenewable energy sources (E-RES),Romania had begun with transposingthe relevant EU Directives (2001/77/EC)way before its accession to the EU, inthe year 2003. The last piece of legislationconcerning the promotion of E-RES(the Law 220/2008 about the promotionsystem of producing E-RES (“Law 220”))which was adopted by the Romanian Parliamententered into force on November6, last year.
Promotion System for E-RES
According to Law 220, the promotion systemof E-RES is based on the mandatoryquota combined with the green certificatessystem or the feed-in-tariff system,the latter being mentioned for the veryfirst time in Romanian legislation as apromotion system for E-RES. One of thetwo aforementioned systems should havebeen approved by Decision of the RomanianGovernment, at the proposal of theRomanian Energy Regulatory Authority(“ANRE”), within 90 days as of November6, 2008 but was still not published in theOfficial Gazette. According to a draft proposalof ANRE which can be downloadedfrom the website of ANRE, the current systemof the mandatory quota combinedwith the green certificates system is to befurther on applied.
Green Certificates
Law 220 has maintained the definitionof the green certificate (“GC”) as beingthe document certifying that 1 MWh ofelectricity has been produced from RESand supplied into the grid. The definitionof the GC needs to be amended given thenew regulations brought in by Law 220,according to which a various number ofGC (between 1 and 4) are to be allottedfor 1 until 2 MWh of electricity producedfrom various renewable energy sourcesand supplied into the grid. To mentionedjust a few, it is regulated that 1 GC is to begranted for each 2 MWh produced in (notnew/not been re-furbished) hydro powerplants with an installed capacity between 1 and 10 MW; 2 GC until the year 2015and 1 GC beginning with the year 2016for each 1 MWh supplied into the gridby the producers of electricity from windenergy; 4 GC for each 1 MWh suppliedinto the grid from solar energy, etc.Nevertheless, until the aforementionedGovernment Decision regarding thepromotion system to be adopted is published, it appears that the previousregulation is still applied, and that the ERESproducers currently get only one GCfor each 1 MWh electricity produced fromRES irrespective of the type of the renewableenergy source used for producingthe electricity.
GC are traded separately from theelectricity produced from RES on two differentmarkets: (i) either on the bilateralcontracts market or (ii) on the centralizedmarket of GC operated by the GreenCertificates Market Operator OPCOMSA. The Romanian Legislator set newminimum (for producers’ protection – EUR27.00/GC) and maximum (for consumer’sand suppliers’ protection – EUR 55.00/GC)values for the GC through Law 220. Theprice of GC is to be calculated on thebasis of the average exchange rate of theNational Bank of Romania for the month of December of the previous year and isto be adjusted yearly with the consumeprice index for Romania.
Mandatory Quota
Law 220 sets also the mandatory quotafor the years 2008-2020 to be performedby electricity producers established asyearly percentage from the gross nationwideelectricity consumption, whereasthe quota for 2021-2030 will be establishedby the competent Ministry and willbe at least in the amount of the quota forthe year 2020. The mandatory quota forthe current year is of 6.28% and for thenext year of 8.30%.
