###author###
The aluminum producer Alro Slatina (ALR) is losing USD 15,000 per hour and will last only a few months on the market, if the authorities will not reduce support for renewable energy , said general manager Gheorghe Dobra (photo). Currently Alro and other major energy consumers have formed a powerful lobby for a reduction of up to 85% of the amount of green certificates (GCs) acquired by major manufacturers, legislation that would affect 200 companies.
“We’re losing USD 15,000 per hour because eco-taxes. ( … ) It is a matter of months how long we`ll resist …the measure to reduce by 85% the amount of green certificates purchased would affect 200 companies ,” said Dobra.
Alro, one of the largest consumers of electricity in Romania, invested over 100 million USD over the past nine years in energy efficiency measures which resulted in a decrease of the energy consumption per ton of aluminum by 75%.
In a pessimistic scenario, closing Alro due to taxes to support renewable energy production would increase by 7% the electricity bill paid by all consumers in Romania, according to Dobra.
“Eventually I think it will come to restricting our activity. We analyze the import of aluminum ingots variant,” he added.
However, if the Government would implement the scheme exempting industrial consumers to pay up to 85% of green certificates, the bill to all consumers would fall by nearly 46%, Dobra said.
Part of the electricity needed for aluminum production Alro comes from state company Hidroelectrica.
“We have not discussed with Hidroelectrica about the price renegotiaton, but we will probably do it,” Dobra said.
Meanwhile, Alro unions prepare to take it to the streets in protest.
Last week , the chairman of Alro, Marian Nastase, said that the price paid by the company for electricity is very high and the measures envisaged by the Government in order to reduce the burden for industrial consumers have been ineffective so far.
Alro, part of Vimetco group, pays an average price of USD 80 per MWh of electricity, while in Germany the average price is of USD 46.6, in the USA, of USD 36.7 and of USD 59.6 in France , according to Nastase.
The Industrial consumers of electricity criticized the support that government gives to renewable energy production, stating that a too high energy price may cause some companies to move factories in other countries.
