The network connection contracts cover, until 2026, projects for wind energy of around 3,000 MW, the vice-president of the Romanian Association for Renewable Energy (RWEA), Adrian Borotea, said on Wednesday, in a specialized conference.
“Of course we have our data, the association’s, but, to be impartial, I would go to Transelectrica and there I saw that there are ATRs (technical approval for connection e.n.) for new projects, somewhere at around 3,000 megawatts, with commissioning in the period 2023-2026. Of course the ATR is valid for 12 months, so those which only blocked the network will get filtered out in a relatively short period. But I would go to the connection contracts and there, again, by 2025-2026 there are about 3,000 new megawatts,” said Borotea.
He emphasized that, of these connection contracts, more than 80% have the chance to turn into projects.
“They have a high certainty, greater than 80%, because, at the moment you sign the connection contract, you are determined, that is, you do not want to lose your place there, you want to secure it in the long term, and it means paying some money already, sometimes significant money, especially at Transelectrica. Of course, it is possible to pay in installments, but, as a rule, the connection works do not start until you are close to the full payment of the connection contract. And here I have seen cases of 10,000-20,000 euros per installed MW. I’m only talking about the connection. But there are also cases where they exceed 150,000 euros per installed MW. And then, to spend such sums just to block the grid, I don’t think it’s feasible from the point of view of a businessman or a commercial company,” explained the vice-president of RWEA, according to Agerpres.
Adrian Borotea pointed out that there are also problems that need to be corrected in this area, such as overtaxation, the PPA (power purchase agreement) approach, the method of calculating the tax base, etc.
“Of course there are problems, but our association optimistically believes that they can be solved through dialogue, a continuous, proactive dialogue on our part, of the other associations, because we are together with those in solar energy, and there are things that, if are not done today they will be done tomorrow.(…) There are things that can and must be corrected sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Of course we can start from the problems that the existing producers are facing and here are things related to overtaxation, of the approach to the PPA, of the way of calculating the tax base, regarding energy profiling, regarding the full recognition of imbalances in all renewables. We all know that wind energy is unpredictable and then it is certain that the imbalances are large and the limitation at 5% introduces a big problem. Then there is the PPA and here the withholding tax is a problem, given that the contract partner is an external one, the withholding tax source solves one problem, but rises another, namely that there may be double taxation of existing producers. Of course, without the PPA, the development of a new wind or solar farm raises a big problem from the banks, from the investors, and here I say that things must be quickly and well corrected,” said the RWEA official.
He also reminded of the draft Ordinance which provides for the limitation to 50 hectares for wind and solar projects developed on agricultural land and emphasized that a balance must be found regarding the approach from the point of view of agriculture, but also of wind parks.