THE POSTPONEMENT of the PAYMENT OF THE GREEN CERTIFICATES WILL BE APPROVED BY THE GOVERNMENT Niţă wants to avoid the payments peak

The authorities seem to have decided to adopt the solution of postponing the payment of some of the green certificates to relieve the pain of the consumers' energy bills. There are great chances that the Government would review in yesterday's session the draft plan to amend the law concerning the incentives for producers of "green" energy, drawn up by the Delegated minister for Energy, Constantin Niţă, sources close to the situation claim.

Our sources are saying: "The draft will remain in the form which was submitted for public debate, with a few amendments. The postponing of the granting of green certificates will apply starting on June July 1st, 2013, for all the existing producers of renewable energy, as well as for those who obtain production licenses and are accredited as units which receive green certificates until January 1st, 2014. The production units which will be commission starting from January 1st 2014, are not subject to the provisions of this ordinance. Starting on January 1st, 2014, the monitoring report of the ANRE concerning overcompensation will come into effect, and the wind, photovoltaic and microhydroelectric plants will receive fewer certificates for a MWh. This is where an important change in the law has been made: the current law provides the amendment of the number of certificates for wind farms starting on January 1st, 2015, but the measure will be taken starting with January 1st, 2014. Thus, starting next year, wind farms will receive 1.5 green certificates/MWh, and photovoltaic plants, - 3 green certificates /MWh. Wind farms currently receive 2 certificate/MWh, and photovoltaic farms receive 6 certificates/MWh".

The postponement of the payment of the green certificates (one for each MWh delivered by the wind farms and microhydroelectric plants and 2 certificate/MWh delivered by the photovoltaic parks) can be applied by the Romanian authorities starting with July 1st, 2013, and until January 1st, 2017. The quoted sources explained: "The approval of the European Commission will be sought later. Since this is not a reduction of the support scheme, there is no risk of the Commision not giving its approval, because no additional advantage is being given to the producers of clean energy".

As for the exemption from the payment of the green energy certificates of the major green energy consumers (the industry), the authorities will need to first notify the European Commission and then wait for an answer to this measure stipulated in the draft Emergency Ordinance (OUG), which modifies the current scheme of support. The mentioned sources told us that the chances of receiving an approval from the Commission are slim, given the recent investigation started against Germany, which took similar steps.

"The rollover" of the certificates is seen by the population as a measure which puts a cap on the financial burden of the energy consumers (population and companies). With the current aid scheme, the payment peak for the green certificates would have been borne between 2013 and 2015.

An accelerated drop of the price of certificates was expected to occur after 2015, due to the supply exceeding the demand. The flattening of the payment curve will spread out the financial effort of the consumers until after 2017-2018.

Even if the Government approves the ordinance pushed by minister Niţă, the tribulations of the renewable energy makers will not stop here. The authorities intend to bring amendments to the system for the functioning of the balancing market, so as to penalize the imbalances challenged by the wind farms.

Renewable energy producers have fought tooth and nail during the debate of the draft Emergency Government Ordinance, but unsuccessfully, it would seem. Investors in the wind energy have proposed that only 0.25 certificate/MWh be "rolled over" in exchange for the participation of the green energy producers to the "consumption" basket for the regulated market (population, institutions, small companies). They say that they can deliver the energy at very low prices, which could contribute to the drop of the costs of this consumption "basket" and thus compensate the costs borne by consumers for the payment of the green certificates (which are billed separately by suppliers).