English
The Emergency Ordinance which postpones the granting of an important chunk of the green certificates which green energy makers are entitled to was debated yesterday in the Commission for Industries of the Chamber of Deputies, turned into a circus. Investors fervently supported their cause, the Department for Energy of the Ministry of the Economy turned down any proposal to amend the ordinance, the deputies said whatever crossed their minds, and the management of the energy regulator (ANRE) played the part of a ping-pong ball as it attempted to mediate the discussion.
Essentially, the summer holiday is "in the air" in the Parliament, and some of the deputies were actually whispering yesterday that "the party directive" was to not accept amendment and for the ordinance to go through in its current form adopted by the Government, ambiguous as it is.
The ordinance stipulates the postponement of the granting of 1 green certificate per MWh generated in the wind farms and microhydroelectric plants, and of 2 green certificates for 1 MWh generated in photovoltaic parks. The postponement will come into effect starting on July 1st, by January 1st, 2017.
The ordinance leaves the Government the option to approve the reduction of the number of green certificates granted to producers for excessively subsidized technologies, no longer grants green certificates to the photovoltaic parks operating on agricultural land, and green energy producers will no longer receive certificates for the volume of energy produced which exceeds the amount which was notified to the energy dispatcher.
At the deputies' requests, investors in renewable energy yesterday struggled to formulate amendments to the regulation, which has many flaws, but their efforts were futile. Maricel Popa, secretary of state in the Energy Department, flat out rejected their suggestions, without granting them any consideration and obviously, without reviewing whether the amendments included any good idea.
The only amendment accepted (with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture) was that the provision which stipulates that green certificates will no longer granted to photovoltaic farms built on agricultural land would only apply starting on January 1st, 2014. As a result, the developers present so far on the market will have the time to remove the plots of land from the agricultural circuit in order to be eligible for the subsidy scheme.
Investors have suggested that the postponement that the Government wants for the granting of the certificates be split equally, respectively 25% for the units which they are entitled to, for all the makers of clean energy, regardless of the technology they use.
They have also requested that the regulation stipulate the postponement of trading and not that of the granting of the certificates, so that they can be sure that they will actually come into possession of the green certificates.
Because the ordinance makes it mandatory to trade the certificates on the OPCOM market, investors have requested for the ability to perform intra-day trading, a project which is apparently stalled at the ANRE, where it was submitted for approval in December. They have requested the approval of flexible trading mechanisms on the OPCOM and of notification of hourly output to avoid producing imbalances for which they would be penalized.
Secretary of State Maricel Popa rejected all the proposals, without providing almost any explanations at all.
Outraged, investors have said that the ordinance basically kills off the entire industry, and that it violates the provisions of the European directives on the sector, which will attract harsh sanctions for Romania.
Indeed, before being applied, the European Commission must be notified about this ordinance. However, the authorities will apply the regulation starting on July 1st, starting from the idea that the support for the renewable energy will be low and that the Commission will give a positive answer.
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
