Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) proposes replacing the support scheme for renewable energy with green certificates with a new fixed tariff system, intending not to alter the impact on the final price of electricity paid by consumers, Zoltan Nagy-Bege, vice-president of the institution, said on Wednesday, quoted by Agerpres.
Renewable energy producers are receiving since 2005 a number of green certificates free of charge, which they can sell in a specialized market for a gain in excess of the actual energy.
Energy suppliers are forced to buy these green certificates, which are ultimately paid by all consumers, including the population, in the final bill.
“One of the solutions is to change this support scheme through green certificates with a feed-in tariff scheme. We will find an entity to administer the scheme, such as Transelectrica, in the case of the cogeneration support scheme, which collects money from suppliers for cogeneration bonuses,” Nagy-Bege said.
On Tuesday, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Energy, Doru Visan, indicated that low-carbon energy producers will receive public money if the price of electricity on the market falls below a certain threshold, but will have to return the difference if the price goes above this level.
This mechanism, called “contracts for difference”, offers a minimum guaranteed price for low-carbon energy.