BUCHAREST: Romania wants to exempt large industrial consumers partially from paying for renewable energy in a subsidy scheme, the energy ministry said on Friday.
Earlier this year, the leftist government decided to delay paying some of its subsidies for renewable energy projects until 2017-2018, drawing criticism from renewable energy developers.
Romania's support scheme gives developers green certificates for each megawatt generated and forces power suppliers and large users to obtain more of the electricity they consume from renewable sources. Green energy investors gain once by selling certificates and again when they sell their electricity.
"The scheme to partially exempt some consumers will be sent separately for the European Commission to approve, before a draft bill is made," the energy ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.
The subsidies, which the European Union's executive arm has said were too generous, have lured scores of foreign investors who ploughed billions of euros into wind, solar, biomass and hydropower projects in Romania.
Investors built 2,100 megawatts of wind parks in three years - more capacity than the country's two nuclear reactors - investing 3.4 billion euros ($4.5 billion), and industry experts have warned the new scheme would hurt future development.
On Friday, the Romanian Wind Association said it had complained to the Commission over the subsidy delays.
Earlier this week, Czech CEZ, which operates Europe's largest land-based wind farm in Romania, complained that retroactively changing the rules conflicted with basic EU principles.
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