Bogdan Tudorache

The new anonymous green certificates market opened in September only works for a small segment of the market: the prerequisite for market participation, which consists in owning a trading device (token) through which it can authenticate to the system, was only met by 15% of the producers, sources from the industry told energynomics.ro.

“Since the ANRE Order (regarding the market functioning regulation – e.n.) was published at the last moment, and the subsequent OPCOM procedures (the sole trading market – e.n.) also the vast majority of producers could not detain a token (device – e.n.). In principle, the small and medium-sized producers could not submit bids. Until 28.09.2017, about 120 manufacturers from almost 800 have the technical means of accessing these markets”, said the quoted source.

The method of correlating the bids with the request is based on the price and the stipulated time period for which the corresponding bid was submitted.

However, in the case of a huge excess of green certificates, the price differentiation factor is irrelevant, since it is clear that all the certificates will only be sold at the minimum price, explained the quoted source.

“The mark of time remains, a discriminating criterion, for the small and medium-sized producers as they lack the staff and the technical means to develop efficient trading systems (automated software programs) throughout which they are likely to be the first. In present, the offers are deposited in the first seconds, and who ever is first (if there are buyers) wins”.

Another problem comes from the fact that on the spot market the offers are redeemed every day, while on the futures market, offers may have the feature to expire at deadline.

“On 01.09.2017, offers were placed on this market, totaling 21.612.943 certificates for various products, including until 2031. As the annual green certificates requirement is 14,9 million units, it is obvious that who has not submitted offers in the early days, has no chance in this market – or in the early days, a very small number of producers had access to the market – most of them lacking the necessary device (token)”, explained the quoted source.

“Conclusion – we have a new market with a questionable form of discrepancy: why is there a time mark instead of disposing of a pro-allocation so that all producers can sell, not just those who are first? It is clear that the green certificate promotion system can no longer work, it has reached its limits and should be replaced by a simpler, more predictable and fair system for all producers”, concluded the quoted source.