Renewable energy producers, developers and service and equipment providers, with a total installed capacity of around 5 GW, are calling on the government to give fair treatment and administrative relief for the development of renewable projects. The companies accuse abusive interpretations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) and a draft emergency ordinance that would favour “entities of the Romanian state” to the detriment of the rest of the investors.

Below is the full press release issued jointly by RPIA (Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association), RWEA (Romanian Wind Energy Association) and PATRES (Employers’ Organisation of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania), calling on the Government to reconsider the draft Emergency Ordinance on some measures for the implementation of investments necessary for the development of Romania’s energy infrastructure financed from funds allocated under the REPowerEU chapter.

The provisions of the draft GEO violate competition and state aid rules and disrupt competitiveness in the energy market by exempting only specific targets for electricity production from renewable sources declared to be of national interest from the 50-hectare limit and the direct concession of land by the State Land Agency. In a context where public entities operate in the market in direct competition with private operators, developing indistinguishable energy capacities, there is no objective justification for legislative exemptions on the grounds of overriding national interest. The planned measures lead to the granting of State aid which creates a competitive advantage incompatible with the internal market and with the provisions of European law by altering trading conditions in a manner contrary to the common interest.

From the preamble of the Draft GEO it appears that only state-owned companies will benefit from the Measures provided for in the document. We quote from the normative act: “it is necessary to amend Law no. 18/1991, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, in order to exempt projects implemented by entities of the Romanian State”. According to the European Commission Communication “a Member State which introduces a differentiation between undertakings must be able to demonstrate that it is justified by the nature and general scheme of the system in question”. In the present case, there is no relevant objective element of differentiation between State-owned and private companies that would justify the creation of such advantages, as both categories of companies develop the same kind of projects and compete in the same market.

As a form of justification, the Explanatory Memorandum expressly mentions the “total blockage” caused by the amendments to the Land Law. We stress that this situation is not the result of recent amendments but of the arbitrary interpretation of Law 254/2022 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which systematically blocks the procedure for introducing agricultural land from outside the built-up area (extravilan) to inside the built-up area (intravilan) by refusing to issue the opinion on the quality class for land over 50 hectares. The MADR justifies its actions by reference to the procedure laid down in Law 254/2022 on exceptions, a legislative act that did not make any changes to the general rules on building construction, merely introducing a new exception for small-scale renewable projects. What was intended to be an administrative easing for small-scale projects is interpreted by MADR as the only legal basis for the development of renewable projects, in clear contradiction with the provisions of Law 18/1991 and MADR Order 1056/2018 which further regulate the procedure for introducing land from the extravilan to the intravilan for the construction of buildings.

In the Address sent to the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, the Associations have presented the legislative solutions to remove the bottleneck for all investors in the market, namely the unblocking of projects exceeding 50 ha, through one of the following mechanisms:

• introducing a provision in the Draft GEO removing the 50-hectare limit from Art. 92 para. (2) letter j) of Law No 18/1991, so that all renewable projects can be located on land located in the countryside with quality class III, IV or V, regardless of the investor and the size of the land;

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• the introduction of a provision in the Draft GEO expressly stating that investment objectives not falling under Art. 92 para. (2)(j) due to the fact that they exceed 50 hectares, the authorisation procedure will be carried out according to Art. 91 and 921 para. (1) of Law 18/1991 and Article 471 of Law 350/2001 on town and country planning and urban development (i.e. by bringing the land into the urban area on the basis of a zoning plan, followed by the withdrawal of the relevant area of land from agricultural use pursuant to Article 23(2) of Law 350/2001). (3) of Act No 50/1991 on the authorisation of construction works).

RPIA, RWEA and PATRES call for a re-examination of the Draft GEO and its modification in order to remove the provisions implementing the Measures for the realisation of investments necessary for the development of Romania’s energy infrastructure financed from funds allocated under the REPowerEU chapter. We therefore call for the unblocking of projects exceeding 50 ha for all investors. Achieving the national and European targets for the share of electricity produced from renewable sources can only become a reality through joint efforts and cooperation between the public and private sectors, as well as on the basis of a stable and predictable legislative framework capable of ensuring the maintenance of a balanced competitive environment.

RPIA – Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association represents 29 members, manufacturers, developers, service and equipment providers in the photovoltaic sector

RWEA – The Romanian Wind Energy Association represents an installed capacity in Romania of 3 GW of wind energy owned by companies such as Enel, Engie, EDP, CEZ etc. following investments of over 5 billion Euro and at the same time developers and suppliers of services related to this industry.

PATRES – The Employers’ Organization of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania, comprising 109 members, producers of renewable energy from all sources (water, wind, sun, biomass) with an installed capacity of over 1.8 GW and investments in Romania of over 2.7 billion Euro.