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The Constanta county produces most green energy and Salaj – the least
The Constanta county leads the top of the counties where most renewable energy is produced with an installed capacity of over 1,639 MW followed by Tulcea and Giurgiu while at the other end there is Salaj, Ilfov and Covasna where there is less than 10MW installed, according to a document of Transelectrica. Thus, the Constanta county is champion in wind energy, with turbines of 1,636 MW and 3.5 MW are photovoltaic panels.
The neighbouring county Tulcea was an attraction for wind turbines. Out of the total of installed capacities 809 MW wind turbines are 796 MW and the rest is photovoltaic energy. At the same time, Dobrogea is considered the area with the biggest wind potential in southern-eastern Europe which drew to Romania investors for this sector.
The top continues with Giurgiu (193 MW), Prahova (188 MW), Gala?i (166 MW), Bra?ov (152 MW), Ialomi?a (142 MW) and Br?ila (110 MW).
The rest of the counties have under 100 MW but the least represented on this market are S?laj (4,7 MW), Covasna (6,4 MW), Ilfov (6,5 MW), Neam? (10,5 MW), Ia?i (14 MW) and Harghita (14,3 MW).
Transelectrica and the eight electricity distribution operators in Romania signed until December 2015 contract for connection to the grid for renewable energy projects with a total of 10,798 MW according to another document of Transelectrica.
The biggest capacities are those producing wind energy, 7,521 MW. The photovoltaic projects with connection contracts got to 2,500 MW while the small hydropower stations have as total 621 MW.
Moreover, there are capacities of 139.9 MW on biomass and 16.7 MW on biogas with connection contracts as well as a small project of 0.05 MW of geothermal energy.
The fact that these projects have connection contracts to the grid shows that they are already functioning or in advanced stage of construction but the latter ones may not be all finalised.
At the end of November last year, capacities for renewable electricity with installed power of 5,127 MW were in function in the system, according to the data centralised by Transelectrica.
Thus, in the system there are wind parks with 3,129 MW power, photovoltaic panels with total capacity of 1,312 MW, microhydropower stations of 583 MW and projects on biomass with power of 103 MW.
Last year there was a drop in the working capacities in the system. The installed power at the end of November was less than that on 31 October when the system had 5,180 MW of renewable energy. At the end of 2014 there were in the system renewable energy production capacities of 5,200 MW according to Transelectrica.
Renewable energy producers receive for free green certificates which they sell on a specialised market for a supplementary gain against the energy as such. These green certificates are paid by all users in Romania, including by the population in the electricity bill.
For 2016, the compulsory quota of electricity produced from renewable sources of energy which benefits from the system of promotion by green certificates is of 12.15% of the gross final consumption of electricity, according to a decision adopted by the government in the meeting of 30 December. The quota for the year to come is higher than that for 2015, which was established at 11.9%.
This level of the compulsory quota for 2016 keeps the impact in the user’s bill at the level of 2015 of almost 35 lei/MWh, without transferring unjustified costs in the bill, the authorities say.
‘In the case where the agreements for exception issued until the end of 2015 (almost 7000 GWh) and of 2016 (almost 1000 GWh, supplementary against 2015) the impact of the green certificates in the end-users’ bills who are not excepted (population, SMEs) will register an increase from 35 lei/MWh to almost 43 lei/MWh’ according to a press release of the government.
The level approved of the compulsory quota for 2016 takes into consideration the national target regarding the share of the energy from renewable sources of energy in the gross final consumption of energy and was established on the basis of the scenarios sent by the National Authority for Regulation in the domain of Energy (ANRE). This target will be met by the limitation of the sale of green certificates by the producers of electricity from renewable sources of energy at a value of almost 60% of the total of issued certificates, according to the decision of the government.