Romanian Parliament approves net metering scheme for solar

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The Romanian Ministry of Energy has issued a press release announcing that Romania’s Parliament yesterday approved the new rules for net metering for solar and renewable energy installations with a capacity of up to 100 kW.

The draft order setting out the rules was published by the Romanian energy regulator ANRE in early January.

The prosumer, the ministry said in its statement, will be able to deliver surplus energy to the grid without needing any authorization and without having to pay taxes on it. Prosumers, however, will be responsible for paying imbalance charges.

“Romania needs small energy producers that will be able to contribute to the production of clean energy and the achievement of Romania's target for the share of green energy in national consumption,” read the release.

Under the new scheme, owners of renewable energy power systems installed will be entitled to sell power surplus to the country’s four power distributors – Enel, CEZ, E. On and Electrica – at a rate that will be set by ANRE, depending on the distributors.

The new provisions are expected to come into effect after their publication in the official journal.

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Net metering may provide more solar growth in Romania after a year – 2017 – in which only 3 MW of new PV power was deployed in the country. An additional incentive could also be represented by a rebate scheme that the Romanian Administration Fund for the Environment (Administrația Fondului pentru Mediu – AFM) is planning to launch in combination with net metering, and which must now be approved by the European Commission.

According to local media, e-nergia-ro, the AFM intends to provide rebates to 20,000 individuals who want to install small power plants with a power of up to 6 KW, with each project having access to a sum of up to €5,000.

The first attempt to support residential PV in Romania was made by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) last July, when it launched a new framework aiming to help Romanian households to invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy and water-saving solutions.

Most of Romania's installed PV power is represented by solar parks installed under the green certificate scheme, which was closed at the end of 2016.

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