EXCLUSIVE The European Commission gives Niţă his dunce cap

The delegated minister for energy, Constantin Niţă, was not correct when saying, on May 23rd, that the European Commission has given its agreement for the ordinance which postpones by three years and a half the payment of a significant portion of the green certificates to renewable energy producers, according to a letter which BURSA got hold of. "Such an agreement couldn't have been expressed, because we weren't notified in advance about the amendments in the ordinance, as requested", according to the letter sent to the Energy Department by the competition commissioners of the Commission.

In the aforementioned document, the representatives of the EC warn that on May 22nd, they have clearly told the Energy Department that the measures in the ordinance must be notified prior to their passing and implementation. This did not happen, as the ordinance was passed on June 4th and came into force on July 1st.

Visibly upset at the situation, the officials of the European Commission told the Department of Energy that they have received several complaints from investors following the amendment of the support scheme for green energy producers, are asking for clarifications concerning those complaints, as well as the notification of the measures stipulated by the ordinance in question. The Commission clarifies that adopting exceptions from the payment of green certificates to major energy producers, is a measure which must be notified prior to being approved and are demanding that our authorities clearly specify the measures for the amendment of clean energy, which they feel they do not have to notify the Commission about.

The result of postponing the payout of a significant chunk of green certificates would be reducing the cost borne by consumers on that segment, which is billed separately, by one third. Following the passing of the Government Ordinance, for the second quarter, the ANRE has cut the mandatory share of green certificates for the end consumers. The weight of the green certificates will therefore be cut from 0.051 lei/KWh to 0.034 lei KWh. Starting on July 1st, 2013, the mandatory quota fell to 0.191 green certificates per MWh, from 0.2117 certificates/MWh (a value effective in the first half of the year).

In the complaints addressed to the European Commission, the green energy producers have alleged that the ordinance passed by Constantin Niţă violates European regulations and is not constitutional.

The confusion on the energy market was created by the hurry and the negligence of the Government, which was quick to seize the idea of amending the aid scheme for the producers of green energy, in order to allow consumers to pay more bearable bills. BURSA has reported how the Government caused some serious problems by pushing a controversial ordinance, which the Ministry of Justice did not approve.

The law stipulates that the green certificates will only be paid partially, with the remainder to be paid later, but without clearly stipulating whether it applies to existing energy producers or to those who will commission their energy generation units from now on as well. Producers will come into possession of the postponed certificates between 2017 and 2020, but it is not stipulated how producers are going to recoup those amounts (at what price, who is going to keep records etc).

Photovoltaic parks located on plots of land that were part of the agricultural circuit, at the time the ordinance came into effect (July 1st, 2013), will no longer be granted green certificates. Most photovoltaic parks already built as well as those which are currently under development are placed on agricultural land.

Clean energy makers will no longer receive green certificates for the additional volumes of electricity delivered by dispatchable units compared to the quantities of energy notified to Transelectrica. This year's experience shows that the output of wind energy has generated quantities twice as high as the ones that were notified.

Trading of green certificates will be done in a centralized and transparent manner. Bilateral contracts will no longer be allowed, and the ANRE will monitor every semester the support scheme for clean energy, in order to reduce the aid granted if overcompensation is found (the old law did not allow cutting the number of certificates earlier than January 1st, 2014, for photovoltaic plants, and earlier than January 1st, 2015, for wind farms).

All these measures lumped in together in the emergency ordinance have seriously shaken the Romanian renewable energy producers, who have threatened to go to court.