Changes in Romanian Renewables Legislation

Law 184/2018 for approving Government Emergency Ordinance no. 24/2017 on amending and completing Law no. 220/2008 on establishing the green certificates (GCs) support scheme for the production of renewable energy (“Law 184”) took effect on 23 July 2018.

The main changes as approved are as follows:

• Introduction of the definition of prosumer. The prosumer is the final client that owns power-generating installations of maximum 27 kW installed power, including cogeneration, and which consumes and can store and sell electricity produced in their own building, including a block of flats, residential site or business, provided these activities do not constitute their primary commercial or professional activity. The prosumers are exempted from obtaining authorisations or from paying taxes on the energy.
• The takeover of all GCs issued between 1 April 2017 and 31 December 2031, including GCs postponed from trading, is guaranteed as long as the final consumption does not fall below the average value set for the period 2017-2022;
• Electricity producers and public authorities owning power plants with installed power of up to 3 MW that benefit or who have benefited from the support scheme and hold GCs may conclude directly negotiated contracts only with end-user suppliers for the sale of electricity and / or GCs.
• From 1 April 2017 until December 31 2020, producers owning solar power plants accredited by ANRE until December 31, 2013, will be temporarily barred from trading two GCs for every 1 MWh produced and delivered. The GCs can be recovered from January 1, 2021 in monthly installments until December 31, 2030.
• The impact on the final consumer will increase to a maximum of 11.7 euro / MWh in 2018 and will be 12.5 euro / MWh in 2019, 13 euro / MWh in 2020-2021 and 14.5 euro/ MWh in 2022. After 2023, ANRE may propose to lessen the impact if there is an insufficient supply of GCs on the market.
• The Mandatory GCs Acquisition Quota will apply also to electricity produced in Romania and sold by suppliers to consumers / suppliers abroad, through bilateral electricity transactions, in those countries with which Romania has bilateral agreements on this matter;
• A minimum of 50% of the mandatory annual quota for the acquisition of GCs and/or of the number of GCs transferred from the producer account to the supplier must be bought from the Green Certificates Anonymous Centralized Spot Market both annually and quarterly. This requirement applies to those economic operators obliged to acquire GCs and act as both producer and supplier. This does not include bilateral contracts concluded before GEO 24/2017 went into effect.
• The Ministry of Energy, together with the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority, may develop a state aid scheme to support the production of renewable energy in the form of a fixed price per type of technology, which is added to the average electricity price resulting from transactions on the centralised electricity market. This could provide an alternative to the GCs support system.

For more information, please contact Varinia Radu.