NEXT YEAR The installed capacity for green energy might rise by 57 %

The installed power in the renewable energy production units might rise by 57.4%, next year, from 4.350 MW to almost 7.000 MW, as the authorities estimate.

Last year, the installed power in the renewable energy power plants accredited by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) for the promotion system through green certificates reached 4.350 MW, from 2.300 MW in 2012, by 1.000 MW more than the authorities expected.

For this year, the authorities anticipate that 1.400 MW will be commissioned, and next year other 1.100 MW will be added, reaching a total of 6.850 MW.

"The capacities stated above have been taken into account with distribution per generation technologies and with the capacity factors resulted from the monitoring analyses", according to the substantiation report of a Draft Government Decision prepared by the Ministry of Economy and the Department for Energy and cited by Mediafax.

The 4.350 MW installed by the end of the last year supply 395 photovoltaic parks, 77 micro-hydropower plants, 73 wind parks and 14 biomass plants.

Romania has power generation capacities of over 20.000 MW.

The Government assists the power generation from renewable sources through a state aid accounted for by green certificates. Each producer receives for free from Transelectrica a certain number of green certificates for the power generated and injected into the network.

After that, the producers sell the green certificates to suppliers, who are forced by law to buy them, the purpose being that a certain part of the final power consumption to be provided by renewable sources. The suppliers recover the costs with the green certificates procurement by the inclusion of these expenses in the tariffs.

The Government took over the past years a series of measures to cut this aid, following the rise in the energy bills, for population, as well as for companies.