The employers’ associations RWEA, PATRES, RPIA and ARmHE, representative for the renewable energy industry in Romania, criticize the lack of decisions from the authorities in respect with the renewables sector. The companies represented by the associations have a total installed capacity of over 5,000 MW and investments of 8 billion euros. They insist on the serious repercussions which the lack of action in the renewables sector has upon the entire energy sector.

“We note with concern that no progress has been made so far and, in the absence of firm decisions, the disaster from the renewables sector deepens,” was stated in a joint press release. “No decision is tantamount to insolvency or mass bankruptcy, which cannot be avoided, as the problems get worse day by day for the energy producers from renewable sources,” the renewable energy producing companies warn, highlighting the negative impact that this situation has on existing and potential investors.

The joint intervention from the associations comes as a response to a statement made by minister of Energy Victor Grigorescu: “There is currently no consensus on the measures that must be adopted. Companies, industry associations have divergent interests, and the debates did not lead to a consensus.” RWEA, PATRES, RPIA and ARmHE insist that “from our side there is a common interest in solving the critical situation in the renewable sector and we agreed a common set of proposals which we presented at the meetings in the working group.” Specifically, companies in the renewable sector request:

• the adoption of an obligation to purchase all green certificates; issued, in stock or deferred from trading
• the extension / removal of the validity of green certificates
• taxation upon the actual sale of green certificates, not at the time of granting
• reintroduction in the market of the deferred green certificates, over a period of 6 years, starting from January, 2018, for all technologies
• granted release of green certificates for the entire production, not only for the notified production
• fixing the amount of the green certificate at the current minimum, respectively 30 euros / GC, inflation indexed

The signatory associations insist that there is no more time for waiting, and the renewables industry is “willfully pushed to bankruptcy”: “After three years in a row of mandatory quota of electricity produced from renewable sources of energy maintained at an extremely low level, unsustainable for existing investments, the renewables sector collapse is imminent,” reads the release.