The Employers Organization of the Producers of Energy from Renewable Sources in Romania (PATRES) initiated the campaign “Stop the green bankruptcy!”, essentially a protest action which rallied 200 energy producers from this sector, according to a press release of the organization.

“In a desperate call, the 200 producers which responded promptly to a questionnaire with six relevant questions, protest for the total lack of decisions that harms the renewables sector. We call for an urgent intervention of the authorities for saving a vital sector of Romania, insisting on taking actions today, not tomorrow when it will be too late for sure,” said Viorel Lefter, President of PATRES.

“After a substantial investment in the Romanian economy, investors – many of them with businesses in other fields, which are also affected as a consequence – feel cheated and claim that they have lost confidence in the authorities’ decisions (more seriously, in the absence of decisions regarding the renewable energy). Thus, we draw attention to the serious risk of Romania no longer being perceived by investors as a safe country for investments,” noted Martin Moise, Vicepresident of PATRES.

In an open letter sent to Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, it is shown that the investors that have joined the campaign “Stop the green bankruptcy!” recorded total losses of over 200 million euros since the subsidies were reduced and the green certificates and energy market distorted.

Following the questionnaire applied by PATRES, the owners and operators of the renewable energy facilities proposed the following solutions to overcome the impasse in which the sector finds itself:

• respecting the legislation in force at the time the investments were made or the revisal of Law 220 by increasing the share of green certificates covering all the green certificates issued while establishing the price at the minimum level prescribed by law;
• eliminating the validity date of the green certificates;
• taxation of green certificates upon their actual sale and not at the time of taking them in possession;
• reintroducing bilateral power purchasing agreements;
• eliminating/adjusting the fee for turbined water;
• disposing of the rent paid for the minor riverbed.

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The Employers Organization of the Producers of Energy from Renewable Sources in Romania started its activity in 2014 at the initiative of a group of energy producers from renewable sources dissatisfied by the frequent changes and inconsistencies of the legal system, with the realities and needs of producers. Currently, the organization includes 91 companies, energy producers across the entire spectrum of renewable sources, representing companies that have a cumulative installed capacity of approximately 800 MW, representing investments of about 1.2 billion euros.