By Constantin Radut
In the early hours of the morning, the associations in the renewable energy industry sent a warning to the authorities in Bucharest. This warning can be summed up as follows: “Do not diminish our profits because we are suing you.”
The tone is impertinent. There it is:
“The Romanian Association for Wind Energy (RWEA), the Employers’ Organization of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania (PATRES) and the Association of the Romanian Photovoltaic Industry (RPIA) urge the authorities to give up both the over-taxation measure with 80% of the income by the producers of electricity, as well as the measure of suspension for a period of one year of green certificates, in order not to endanger the production of green energy. We also request the Government of Romania to elaborate and approve, as a matter of urgency, the formula for calculating the 80% tax to be applied to the income resulting from the deduction of energy purchase expenses by regularizing the entire period (November 2021 – March 2022), taking into account and actual costs in the energy market ”.
Like other European countries, the Government of Bucharest has taken and intends to take new measures to protect final consumers from the exponential increase in electricity prices consumed. This would affect the huge profits that renewable energy producers have obtained in Romania over a decade as a result of regulations that impoverished the pockets of domestic and industrial consumers. Especially because of the exaggeratedly high level of green certificates.
As a result of regulations and laws that favored renewable energy producers, taken more than a decade ago, Romania’s energy capacity has been substantially diminished or lacked investment in modernization. It should be noted that in Romania for the last 10 years no new gas or coal-fired power plant has been put into operation.
“The representatives of RWEA, PATRES, RPIA, together with WindEurope and SolarPower Europe, notified the authorities in Bucharest and Brussels about the impact that the two measures have on Romania’s energy security and on the price of electricity, in the context in which the cost energy from renewable sources is the lowest compared to other energy sources “- it is said in the joint communiqué of these associations.
“Given the current situation on the Romanian border, we believe that such measures will seriously affect Romania’s energy security, undermining investments in sources of production that do not depend on fossil fuels, investments that are urgently needed. It is unacceptable for producers in the renewables sector, who have invested more than 10 billion euros in the Romanian economy, through an unstable and unpredictable legislative framework, to be permanently sanctioned for the explosion of electricity prices. Increasing the production of renewable energy in the energy mix leads to lower bills for the final consumer, “said Adrian Borotea, RWEA Vice President.
Lying, lying, lying. The value of the green certificates paid by the final consumers were those that inflated the electricity bills.
Have renewable energy producers invested 10 billion euros in the Romanian economy? We invite Adrian Borotea to tell us what Romania means in the production of renewable energy equipment. Almost nothing. Although we are one of the countries in which the production capacities of renewable energy have increased a lot, compared to other EU countries, in Romania we do not have any equipment manufacturing unit. Everything is imported. Why? To increase the profits of producers in Germany, the Czech Republic and the US.
Instead, Romania, through the greed of some local administrations, makes available to foreign companies agricultural land for the installation of renewables. Moreover, the occupation of arable land began. We are replacing the corn or wheat crops with some installations that are thrown away by scrap metal in 10 years. It is estimated that the wind farms and photovoltaic parks have removed almost 1 million hectares of land from the agricultural circuit. No such thing is allowed in any EU country. Do you agree, Mr. Adrian Borotea?
“Moreover, Romania has committed, through PNIESC approved in October 2021, to produce 30.7% of the country’s energy for final consumption from renewable sources, by 2030, a target to which it must already contribute with new capabilities from renewable sources, and which will be overhauled to comply with the European Commission’s recommendation for a renewable energy target of at least 38% nationally. Also, as the European Commission points out, every wind turbine and every photovoltaic panel has the immediate role of reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports and producing clean energy at low cost “, says Mihai Bălan, RPIA Executive Director.
Are these RPIA dreams? Take a look at what’s happening in other states. In Germany, the coal-fired electricity industry is reactivated. In France, nuclear energy is becoming an engine of economic growth. In the Czech Republic, renewable energy has one of the lowest rates of the total energy produced and consumed. Is the wind blowing harder in Romania than in the Czech Republic?
In Romania, we need electricity produced with the help of natural gas and nuclear energy. Why not invest in these sectors? I’m not making a profit right away?
It is!
In conclusion, we ask the Government to analyze the development projects of the natural gas power plants and to initiate the urgent development of nuclear energy programs.
We are waiting for reactions.
