Legea nu poate interzice exportul de energie verde, pentru ca asa a vrut legiuitorul?The Law Cannot Prohibit the Export of Green Energy – Was It Lawmakers’ Will?
In continuarea analizei noastre privind exportul de energie electrica “exclusiv din surse regenerabile” vom prezenta astazi punctul de vedere al Departamentului pentru Energie la interpelarea domnului Tudor Popescu, publicata in numarul nostru de ieri. Interesant este ca reprezentantii Departamentului pentru Energie recunosc indirect ca au in vedere reglementarea comertului cu energie electrica al Romaniei, respectiv al traderilor, indeosebi in ceea ce priveste energia verde. In acelasi timp insa, Departamentul pentru Energie afirma ca “interdictia de export a energiei electrice din surse regenerabile contravine Tratatului de functionare al Uniunii Europene, prin care este asigurata libera circulatie a marfurilor , a persoanelor, a serviciilor etc”.
Cunoastem cu toti acest principiu fundamental, dar asta nu inseamna ca fiecare tara membra nu isi poate proteja consumatorii de energie, in cazul acesta.
Va reamintim ca Energy-Center isi propune prin aceste analize sa ajunga la o concluzie cat se poate de apropiata de adevar, in cazul energiei electrice ce merge la export, motiv pentru care insistam in materialul de astazi asupra prevederilor legislative in vigoare, care, asa cum afirmau si reprezentantii Departamentului pentru Energie, nu poate interzice exportul de energie electrica provenita din surse regenerabile. Asta pentru ca nu s-a vrut sa se ajunga la o asemenea interdictie.
Chiar daca raspunsul Departamentului pentru Energie este unul ce ocoleste in mare masura problema de fond, consideram ca este bine sa vi-l prezentam:
Dupa cum bine se poate observa din acest raspuns, problema exportului de energie verde pare a fi una reala. Nu stim in ce masura cunoaste Departamentul pentru Energie amanuntele tranzactiilor, dar poate intreba ANRE, daca intr-adevar “are in vedere aceasta problema”.
Cel mai interesant ni se pare insa raspunsul Departamentului pentru Energie in ceea ce priveste problemele legate de dezechilibrul de sistem. Iata ce se spune:
(va urma)We continue our analysis of the export of electricity “only from renewable sources”; this issue presents the point of view of the Energy Department on the interpellation by Mr. Tudor Popescu in the previous issue. Interestingly, the Department’s officials indirectly admit that they intend to regulate Romania’s – i.e. traders’ – electricity operations, especially as regards the green energy. On the other hand, the Energy Department asserts that “prohibiting the export of electricity from renewable sources would infringe the European Union Treaty, where the free movement of goods, individuals, services, etc. is stipulated.”
We all know this basic principle; it does not mean, however, that a EU member county cannot protect its consumers – in this case, the electricity consumers.
We maintain that Energy-Center intends to get its own conclusions, as realistic as possible, from this series of analysis on the electricity exports. This is why today we insist on the legislation in force, which cannot prohibit the export of electricity from renewable sources – just like the Energy Department says. The reason is that the lawmakers did not want to introduce such a restriction.
Even if the Department’s answer largely circumvents the basic issue, we think you are entitled to read it:
i. Article 10.3 of Law 220/2008 introduces a restriction on the trading of electricity produced from subsidized renewable sources; until the national targets mentioned in Article 4.2 are reached, trade is only possible to cover the final gross consumption of electricity in Romania. The national target for 2010-2015 has been already reached and exceeded, however (41%, compared to 33%), so this restriction is implicitly void.
ii. In this situation, the Law 23/2014, approving the Government Emergency Order 57/2013, which completed and modified the Law 220/2008 modified Article 4.4, adding provisions on the annual quota of electricity from renewable sources that benefits from support measures; this quota is set on an annual basis, depending on the achievement of the national goal, and on the impact on end users. For 2014, this subsidized production quota is set to 11.1% of the final gross consumption of electricity, down from the initial figure of 15%. As exports are not included in the final consumption, they do not influence this quota. The support through green certificates has been restricted to the minimum necessary for reaching the target assumed by Romania for 2020, namely a quota of 24% of green energy in the final gross consumption.
iii. “Masked” exports of electricity from green sources are still physical exports of electricity, without the “green color”; it does not and cannot have guarantees of origin, and is not notified to the [European] Commission, to allow its use by the importing country as a deduction from its obligations under Directive 2009/28/EC. On the contrary, the production of electricity from renewable sources statistically counts for the country of origin and contributes to this country’s assumed target; this country is also the first beneficiary of the replacement of electricity from conventional fuels by “green” energy, in terms of environmental improvements and of economy, due to the positive impact of the investments in the production of electricity from renewable sources.
As you can see, the problem of green energy exports seems real. We don’t know how much of the transaction details are known to the Energy Department, but if it really “is aware of this problem,” it should ask the Energy Regulatory Authority.
Most interesting seems, however, the Department’s answer to the system unbalance issues:
i. The guaranteed or priority intake of wind energy in the national energy system (SEN) is stipulated in Article 16.2.b of Directive 2009/28/EC. Paragraph c. of the same article adds the obligation of member states to take steps towards the minimization of “limitations” to the use of electricity from renewable sources. Under the Directive, Romania had to take up the load and the related expenses for balancing the system upon the integration of electricity from renewable sources; these are supported by the national power dispatcher (DEN), but mostly by the thermal power plants.
ii. The Department of Energy has repeatedly asked Transelectrica in 2013 to specify the safety limits for the operation of the SEN, as installed wind and photovoltaic production capacities increased from 1870 MW to more than 3500 MW by the end of the year, much above the 2528 MW estimate of the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy. As the only authorized operator able to determine the safe operation limits of the SEN did not answer, no restrictions could be imposed in the modifications of Law 220/2008 for the intake of electricity from volatile renewable sources into the grid.
iii. Changes of Article 3.6 of Law 220/2008, as introduced by the Government Emergency Order 57/2013 stipulate that green certificates are no longer issued for the additional deliveries of electricity from renewable sources, in excess of the hourly physical notifications sent to the DEN. This aims at increasing the responsibility of dispatched units in sending more accurate specifications, to lower the balancing costs.
(to be continued)