Romania’s energy department says European Commission was prenotified on deferred green certificates

The energy department said in a statement that the re-examination request made by the president, on the law approving the emergency government ordinance no.57/2013 that defers the issue of some green certificates, contains “erroneous information.”

The department said that DG Competition confirmed that it had received the prenotification regarding the legal changes on August 2.  The Commission said that amendments did not “raise significant issues in terms of compatibility”

The government has approved significant amendments to the renewable legislation, to limit spiraling electricity prices for households and industry due to the generous renewable subsidies.

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Some of the enforced changes include the deferment of some green certificates in solar, small hydro and wind capacities, in the same time limiting the licensing of new projects.

Authorities have barred new solar installations placed on agricultural land from receiving green certificates and put in place new rules regarding the take over of electricity from incentivized renewable capacities in the grid.

“Romania, similarly to other European states, is facing threats of the competiveness of its energy intensive sectors, running a high risk of relocation from these economic operators,” said the energy department in a statement.

According to official data, the renewable energy contribution paid by final electricity consumers rose from RON 8 (EUR 1.7) in 2011 to RON 53 (EUR 11.7) in the first semester of 2013, underscoring the sheer size of investments into renewable capacities in the past few years.

The soaring capacities, which reached around 3,000MW by September 2013, means Romania could cover 24 percent of its gross electricity consumption from renewable sources this year, the target which should have initially been reached in 2020.

Ovidiu Posirca