Romania approves cut in green certificates renewable energy incentive scheme

The Romanian Government recently approved a piece of legislation on cutting the incentives to renewable energy producers. The Government decided to postpone granting a part of the green certificates to investors in small hydropower plants, wind farms and solar power plants, starting July 1. This measure will be valid until March 2017 in the case of hydropower and solar power plants and until 2018 for wind farms, according to local news agency Mediafax. New wind installations will only get one green certificate instead of two certificates currently awarded, small hydro power plants one instead of three and solar projects two instead of six. In the Prime Minister’s opinion, the Romanian Government has to take measures concerning the system to support renewable energy in order to reach a sustainable energy price for households and industrial customers, but also to avoid big productive units “shutting down”, according to Mediafax. The extremely favorable investment climate for renewable energy has brought a huge surge in projects, with wind capacity doubling and doubling again over the last two years. However, the incentive scheme has been criticized for being excessively generous, although the original plans did receive European Commission approval. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com