“The price increase is only a few lei extra, these are not very large sums. Now we are paying for 200 years of senseless pollution,” Cotosman told a seminar on renewable energy.
The ministry official added that Romania had a choice between multiple support schemes, and it is required by the EU to support investment in renewable energy.
“The support scheme is an requirement we have towards the EU, to achieve the renewable energy targets. We’ve had a choice between multiple systems for the encouragement of such investments,” Cotosman said.
Under this support scheme, investors earn money by selling the energy and by trading green certificates on the market, since energy suppliers are required to buy an annual quota. This form of support has been approved by the European Commission.
The support scheme will be applied between 2011 and 2021. The greatest impact will be felt in 2016-2017, when consumers may pay 30% more on their bills.
Asked whether authorities are telling renewable energy investors to reinvest some of the profit in the local market, the adviser replied “not everything can be made in Romania”.
He added that he was not taken seriously by other EU members when he spoke of the support scheme’s budget, which is “very generous”.
“It is one of the most generous support schemes in Europe, if not the most generous one. We believe the scheme’s essence is good. (…) All neighboring states, Albania, Servia, were speaking of millions of euro. When I told them our scheme has a budget of EUR9 billion, it seemed farfetched. I’m still not sure I was taken seriously. Our best case scenario would be for Romania to start producing wind farm machinery,” said Cotosman.