Cost competitive renewable energies can help Romania to benefit from the European Cooperation mechanism and generate additional revenues. In this context, the costs of capital for renewable energy projects are a decisive factor for Romania’s future renewable energy policies, underlined Robert Brückmann from the international consulting company eclareon, one of the participants in the dedicated workshop organized by the EUFORES, at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest (March 22).
To reach the new European targets – 35% for Romania in 2030, new investments will be needed and they can only be attracted by a stable and predictable legislative framework. In this respect, Robert Brückmann mentioned the relevant elements from the perspective of an improved legal framework possible for more competitive advantages:
Political POV
- Political stability
- Less unexpected amendments
- Fewer Emergency Ordinances
Policy POV
- Effective support scheme for larger installations
- Harnessing decreased costs
Revenues POV
- Stable regulatory framework
- PPA contracts or tender schemes
“Romania has done a great job in achieving the EU 2020 RES targets, till now, and it has now the chance to reap the rewards of its efforts”, Brückmann pointed out. “Romania can master the challenges that impede more deployment of RES and might profit from existing and future instruments that are currently discussed”. Romania is one of the few EU member states facing relatively high costs of debt, which is a major disadvantage in competition with other states. Although the cost of debt decreased by 2 percentage points from 2014 to 2016, this indicator is still two-three times higher than in the RES champion EU member states (Austria, Germany, UK, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania). With a 6.5% average cost of debt Romania is placed alongside Greece, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
Robert Brückmann also pointed at new instruments that are currently developed to reduce costs of capital, such as a Cost Reduction Facility. This instrument can allow Romania to further bring down its deployment costs and produce green energy for very competitive prices. Several options of Cooperation with other Member States are possible, among these statistical transfer and joint projects between member states.
eclareon is one of the partners in the Renewables Networking Platform project coordinated by EUFORES. The RNP project started on the 1st of March 2017 and will run until the 28th of February 2021.
EUFORES – European Forum on Renewable Energy Sources is a European parliamentary network with members from all major political groups in the European Parliament as well as in the national EU member states Parliaments. EUFORES promotes the deployment of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency within Europe. It is a non-profit organization founded 1995 by members of Parliament and other key actors.