The reduction will be applied based on a government decision, in accordance with the legal provisions, said ANRE.
The regulator has proposed the government to cut the number of green certificates to 3 per megawatt/hour from 6 for solar energy, to 1.5 from 2 for new wind turbines and to 1.3 from 3 for the energy produced in micro hydropower plants.
Local producers of renewable energy benefit from government support via a green certificates scheme, which allows them to recover part of the production costs. Each renewable energy producer is granted a number of green certificates for power fed into the electricity grid.
The subsidies, which are eventually passed into consumers’ electricity bills, are not available for producers of conventional energy.
As Romania has one of the most generous support schemes for renewable energy in Europe, the country has attracted significant investment in the sector. However, many industrial consumers are starting to complain about the high cost of electricity bills and are asking for measures that would limit the impact of green certificates on energy tariffs.
Romania has a combined installed wind energy capacity of around 1,600 megawatts, with another 700 MW being in the testing period. Solar energy farms reach a combined capacity of 71 MW, while biomass power plants of 44 MW. Micro hydropower plants, with individual capacities of below 10 MW, have a combined installed capacity of 453 MW.