AFM has recently announced who are the first 5,300 beneficiaries of the state subsidy granted in the program for encouraging small electricity production through photovoltaic systems installed at home. More than 6 months have passed since the launch of the entries in the program, and the beginning of the execution works will be postponed once again, now because of the Covid-19 pandemic! We discussed with one of the main supporters of prosuming in Romania, Claudiu Butacu – co-founder of the energiaTa initiative.
“We have been working together with other organizations and public authorities for 3 years in order to make the process as simple and advantageous as possible for prosumers in Romania, both in terms of the duration and of the de-bureaucratization of the authorization process, but also in respect to compensating the energy injected into the grid”, said Claudiu Butacu.
Prosumers became a legal reality in Romania in the summer of 2018, and on July 31, 2019, the reports from the distribution operators, as gathered by energiaTA, showed that there have been 139 prosumers connected to the electricity distribution grids. Of these, 8 were legal entities, 2 were schools, and 129 were natural persons. The latest data from energiaTA shows that on February 18, 2020, there were 303 connected prosumers, of which 43 were legal entities and 260 were natural persons. Most prosumers (126) were connected to SDEE Transilvania Sud, and the least to Dobrogea E-Distribution (3); Delgaz Grid S.A, E-Distribution Banat and SDEE Transilvania Nord had between 40 and 50 prosumers connected each.
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The administrative procedures are still complicated and they extend over a long period of time, said Claudiu Butacu, although the terms have been considerably reduced compared to the last situation 2-3 years ago. The documents for getting the technical connection approval (ATR) can be sent (submitted) online or by post to all distributors.
“For the other documents the situation it is not clear, but it should be the same”, reckons Claudiu Butacu. “It is unclear how many people are available at present to work on these approvals / certificates; at the same time, it is not clear how will be possible to safely carry out the final check of end consumer’s system, the meters and all the other equipment installation, as well”, he insisted.
In a draft Order in public debate until March 16, the National Energy Regulatory Authority – ANRE listed the 8 stages of the connection process and included new deadlines for each of them. The order has not yet been published in the Official Gazette.
New deadlines proposed by ANRE
- ATR is sent to the prosumer within 15 working days from the date of submission of the connection request and the complete documentation (from 30 days)
- 3 days for the connection contract (from 10 days)
- 5 days for installing the meter
- 5 days for the connection approval (from 10 days)
- 2 days for final power-up
“In the next period, TA energy intends to launch the new edition of the Prosumer’s Guide and contribute to simplifying the authorization process and reducing VAT for products and services in the area of energy for prosumers. In the medium term, we hope to reach 100,000 prosumers in Romania, and in the long term, by 2050, we hope Romania will operate 100% with energy from renewable sources”, said Claudiu Butacu.
EnergynomicsTalk is a new editorial product launched by the Energynomics communication platform aiming at encouraging a constant professional dialogue in the Romanian energy community during the state of emergency and amid the restrictions imposed by social distancing approach.
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