Guvernul incearca sa opreasca buzduganul energiei verzi, dupa ce ne-a nimerit in ceafaGreen Energy: the Government Cries ‘Duck!’ After It Hit Us

Romania a folosit schema de sprijin pentru energia regenerabila pe principiul buzduganului din basme. Mai intai a aruncat in piata generozitatea totala a ajutorului de stat, pentru ca mai apoi (dupa ce s-a trezit trosnita in ceafa) sa reactioneze dur la efectele buzduganului lansat tocmai de catre ea. Hotararea de guvern privind reducerea drastica a sprijinului acordat producatorilor de energie electrica din surse regenerabile a fost publicata in Monitorul Oficial. De aici incolo, mucles! Vrem energie ieftina si nu principii europene de reducere a emisiilor de CO2, cote de energie verde etc. La cata energie verde avem deja ne ajunge de acuma incolo pentru multa vreme , mai ales ca avem un mix energetic pe care il invidiaza toata Europa. Cel putin asa sustin autoritatile de la Bucuresti.

Pe de alta parte, chiar si in conditiile reducerii drastice a schemei de sprijin, vom asista inca la punerea in functiune a noi parcuri eoliene sau solare, pentru ca investitiile au fost lansate inca de pe vremea cand Romania era un adevarat El Dorado in domeniu. Asadar, din punctul de vedere al investitorilor lucrurile nu sunt chiar atat de simple pre cum le vede guvernul.

Si ca sa intelegem cum s-a ajuns aici vom incerca sa va reamintim cum s-a produs boomul energiei regenerabile in Romania si de ce nimeni nu raspunde pentru masuri pripite luate in ultimii 3-4 ani. Inainte de a intra in vigoare legea energiei regenerabile, numai pe baza zvonurilor privind schema de sprijin, investitiile in domeniu depaseau suma de un miliard de euro. Proiectele anuntate insa ridicau nivelul acestor afaceri la peste 4-5 miliarde de euro, pentru viitorul apropiat, fara ca autoritatile statului sa aiba vreo evaluare a impactului acestora asupra pretului energiei electrice sau asupra sistemului energetic national. Legea energiei regenerabile, elaborata in 2008, a fost modificata de doua ori numai in 2010, dar in lipsa legislatiei secundare nu putea fi pusa in aplicare.

Cu toate acestea, investitorii s-au expus unor riscuri majore, pe surse, cum se spune in presa. Iata ca riscurile au dat acum in clocot.

Explozia proiectelor de parcuri eoliene in zonele cu potential ale Romaniei a fost ca o mana cereasca pentru tot felul de asa- zisi investitori, care incearcau sa-si transfere o parte din pierderile din sectorul imobiliar in cel al energiei regenerabile. Sub umbrela Directivei europene care promoveaza utilizarea energiei regenerabile, statul roman a ales sa faciliteze respectivele investitii inainte de a avea un studiu de impact al acestora, atat pentru consumatori, cat si pentru mediu sau sistemul energetic national in general.

Cererile de racordare depuse numai de investitorii in ferme eoliene la Transelectrica depaseau inca din 2010 de peste doua ori potentialul existent de preluare a energiei produse. Nici o problema. Avizele se dadeau in continuare ca pe banda. Prin comparatie, Bulgaria, confruntata si ea la un moment dat cu o asemenea situatie, a decis sa sisteze toate racordarile la retea pentru producatorii de energie regenerabila, pana la efectuarea unor studii de impact. Romania habar n-avea de asa ceva.

Unii specialisti romani au atras atentia asupra acestei situatii : “daca pana acum se vorbea in metri patrati si hectare, de doi ani încoace aceiasi investitori vorbesc in megawaţi eolieni. Este vorba de tot felul de privati care habar n-au ce este un megawat, infig niste bete pe care pun o elice, apoi le vand si ei numesc asta afacere în energie”, declara tocmai actualul consilier al premierului Ponta, respectiv directorul ISPE-Dan Gheorghiu. In acelasi timp, o serie de institutii de specialitate atrageau atentia asupra lacunelor pe care Legea energiei regenerabile le avea si mai ales la posibilele acte de coruptie pe care aceasta le poate genera.

Tot nu s-a auzit.In paralel, comisarul european pentru Energie, Günther Oettinger, declara ca statele membre ale Uniunii Europeane vor trebui sa investeasca 1.000 de miliarde de euro, pana in 2020, indeosebi pentru reducerea consumurilor de energie si a promovarii energiei regenerabile. UE s-a angajat ca pana in 2020 sa reduca emisiile de dioxid de carbon si alte gaze cu efect de sera cu 20%, în raport cu nivelurile din 1990 si sa aduca la 20% ponderea energiei regenerabile în consumul total. Planurile de actiune pentru tarile membre sunt la latitudinea fiecarui stat in parte, care trebuie sa tina seama insa de Directiva 2009/28 a Comisiei.

Romania trebuia sa trimita Planul national de actiune pana la 30 iunie 2010. A facut-o mult mai tarziu si pe niste baze fanteziste. Acest plan trebuia sa contina, intre altele, cotele ce vor fi atinse pe fiecare tip de energie regenerabila, precum si implementarea legislatiei specifice. Ministerul Economiei, caruia ii revenea responsabilitatea intocmirii Planului, a reusit sa posteze pe site-ul propriu un proiect de plan, spre dezbatere publica, dar acesta nu rezistat mau mult de cinci zile. Intre timp, tara noastra a ales sa stimuleze investitiile in energia regenerabila prin alocarea generoasa de certificate verzi investitorilor, certificate care au o valoare cuprinsa intre 27 si 55 de euro/un MWh instalat. Nimeni nu s-a intrebat cine va plati acesti bani unui investitor care instaleaza, de pilda 500 MW si care ar urma sa incaseze numai din certificate verzi cateva milioane de euro anual. Intre timp ne apropiem de 4000 MWh instalati, numai in eoliene. Toata economia, ne referim la consumul de energie, a fost data peste cap.

(va urma)There’s a tale about a dragon who used to throw ahead his morning star from three miles, to warn he was coming home – that’s just what Romania did for the renewable energy. First, the rulers launched the state subsidy like the holy water sprinkler of the tale; and after the weapon hit and hurt us, they reacted forgetting whose fault it was. The Government Decision to cut down the aid for the producers of renewable energy has been published in the Official Journal of Romania. Now shut your trap! We want cheap energy, not European principles of CO2 emissions abatement, green energy quotas, etc. We have enough green energy for long time, especially now that our energy mix is Europe’s envy – at least that’s what rulers in Bucharest claim.

On the other hand, even with the draconian cuts of the support scheme, new wind or solar farms will be commissioned, as the investments were launched while Romania was the El Dorado of this industry. So, from the investors’ point of view, things are not as simple as the Government sees them.

To understand how we got here, we’ll try to remind you the mechanism of the renewable energy boom in Romania, and why no one assumers the responsibility for the hasty decisions of the last 3-4 years. Before the Renewable Energy Law even came into force, based only on rumors about the subsidies scheme, the investments in this field topped €1bn. Disclosed projects were to increase the business volume to 4-5 billion euros on short term, without the state authorities evaluating in any way the impact of it on the price of electricity or on the national energy system. The Renewable Energy Law drafted in 2008 was modified twice only in 2010, but the secondary legislation to enact it was missing.

Nevertheless, the investors assumed major risks, based on information ‘from undisclosed sources’, like media use to say. Now the risks have materialized.

The boom of wind farm projects in the high potential areas of Romania proved actually a windfall for many so-called investors trying to compensate their real estate losses with renewable energy Covered by the European Directive for the promotion of renewable energy, the Romanian state chose to facilitate these investments before having an impact study for the consumers, the environment, and the national energy system as a whole.

The connection requests to Transelectrica submitted by the wind farm investors only were exceeding twice the energy intake potential as early as 2010. No problem whatsoever. The approvals kept coming at steady pace. On the contrary, Bulgaria – who faced at some point a similar problem – decided to stop all the connections to the grid for the renewable energy producers, pending some impact studies. Romania wasn’t bothered by such concerns.

Some Romanian experts warned: “the investors who used to talk in square feet and acres now, for two years, are all about megawatts of wind power. They’re all sorts of private investors ignoring what a megawatt is; they stick some poles into the ground, attach turbines to them, sell them, and call it energy business”, used to say Mr. Dan Gheorghiu, manager of the ISPE (the Institute for Studies and Power Engineering), now a counselor of prime minister Victor Ponta. Meanwhile, specialized organizations highlighted the flaws of the Renewable Energy Law, and especially the potential corruption it could generate.

They kept being ignored. Also, the European commissioner for energy, Mr. Günther Oettinger, said that EU member countries have to invest 1,000 billion euros before 2020, especially to reduce energy consumption and to promote renewable energy. The EU committed to reducing the CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels, and to increase the quota of renewable energy to 20% of the overall demand. The action plans for the member states are left to each of them, but they must abide to the European Commission’s Directive 2009/28.

Romania should have submitted its National Action Plan before June 30, 2010. It did so much later, and based on fantasy. Among other, the plan should have included the target quotas for each type of renewable energy, and the implementation of specific legislation. The Ministry of Economy, responsible for drafting the Plan, managed to post on its website an outline for public debate, but it didn’t hold for more than five days. Meanwhile, Romania chose to stimulate investments in the renewable energy by generously dispensing green certificates to the investors, with values between 27 and 55 euros per installed MWh. No one wondered who will pay the equivalent sums to investors installing, for instance, 500 MW, and should subsequently make millions of euros each year from the green certificates only. In the meantime, the installed capacity has almost reached 4000 MWh just for the wind farms. The whole economy was turned upside down, in terms of energy consumption.

(to be continued)