EXCLUSIVE Romania has reached its target for the weight of renewable sources of energy

The major companies in the industry claim that the " boom" of renewable energy and the heavy drop of consumption this year have caused Romania to reach in 2013 the goal it has set for itself for 2020, namely, to have renewable energy account for 24% of the total gross national energy consumption.

Sources from the ANRE (our energy market regulator) told us that the major consumers are right and they added that the Authority has addressed to the Government a notification concerning the results of the green energy market: "Assessing the impact of green certificates on energy bills and the installed power in the centers for production based on renewable sources, I have found that at the end of 2013 we can say that Romania has reached its goal it has assumed as part of its EU membership, concerning the weight of green energy in the gross energy consumption. As a result, the ANRE considers that the reduction of the mandatory quota of green certificates for 2014 is necessary, from the level set by law of 15%, to a level of up to 13%".

As a result, if the Government and the Parliament decide to enact the change proposed by the ANRE, there are great odds of the bills of all the consumers which include these green certificates being "frozen" at their current level, instead of increasing, as is scheduled.

Our sources explained: "The passing of the measures allows the market mechanisms to operate correctly and to take the price of green certificates towards the minimum price rather than towards the high. According to the preliminary estimates of the ANRE, the impact of green certificates on the consumers' bills will be kept at a level of 36-38 lei/MWh in 2014, even with units for generating eco-friendly energy with over 4000 MW of installed power.

If neither the annual quota of green certificates, nor the price of certificates don't drop in 2014, the impact on the final bills will reach 70-80 lei/MWh for renewable energy".

Ionel David, the president of the RWEA association, which comprises the producers of renewable energy, told us that Romania reaching its target for renewable energy is highly likely: "I am referring here to the 24% quota of the final gross energy consumption. It's just that in the law no. 220 concerning the aid of green energy for 2013 we have stipulated a quota of 14% renewable energy out of the total generated electricity and at the end of the year we estimate that we will reach a percentage of 11.5%. The annual electricity quota does not include the energy produced by the major hydroelectric installations, which do not receive green certificates".

The major consumers of energy claim that 2013 brings them very high costs with the green certificates and they are requesting exemptions from their payment. They claim that because of these costs, they are no longer competitive on the European and global market, and the risk of relocation is increasing from one day to the next.

In response, Ionel David claims: "The drop of the price of electricity on the energy exchange was about 30% this year, whereas the drop of the energy consumption was 7%. Thus, there are other causes that support the drop, namely the higher level of hydraulicity and the existence of wind energy which came with a marginal cost of almost zero and which has massively contributed to the price drop on the OPCOM markets. The official statistic shows that Romania has some of the lowest prices in the EU, even with all its specific tariffs included. And actually, we are already at the bottom of the ranking in terms of competitiveness".

Major consumers have complained yesterday, in a conference about the rising price of green certificates, accusing producers and suppliers that they are deliberately withholding them from sale, in order to drive up their price artificially. The heavy industrial energy consumers claim that they are not feeling the benefits of the ordinance by which the granting of a significant volume of green certificates has been postponed, because the new units for the production of clean energy which are entering the market are also growing because of the high price of the certificates.

Our sources from the ANRE claim that the measure of lowering the certificate quota is necessary, especially more so because the market for green certificates functions in an unpredictable manner and also allows operations that aren't fair. The market will become mature when the demand will be exceeded by the supply, our sources also say.

Ionel David says, however, that the major consumers are misleading the public when it comes to the accusations about the prices of the certificates: "The law allows a producer or a supplier to own the certificates for a year and a half. The consumers are only presenting a partial truth. Producers can put these certificates up for sale whenever they want. In fact, their energy bills should be far lower than they were last year. If that is not the case, they should fire those who are in charge of their energy procurement".

Major consumers claim that the EU states can take various measures to aid the industry which is at risk of relocation, and they stress that Romania is the only country that did not exempt companies from the aid scheme for renewable forms of energy.