Electricity

Romania mulls carbon price compensation scheme

Photo: Pixabay

Published

June 14, 2019

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

June 14, 2019

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

The Romanian government is considering introducing a scheme for offsetting the cost of the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS), but details have not yet been announced, local media reported.

The scheme would be available to all companies that are obliged to hold emission allowances. The price of these certificates has increased sharply in the last two years, from EUR 5 to EUR 25 per metric ton.

Florin Ciocanelea, economic advisor to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, has said that an inter-ministerial committee has been set up to propose a compensation scheme, Economica.net reported. The idea is to offset the costs companies have for purchasing emission allowances. He said that 15 such schemes currently exist in the EU.

The Romanian media are saying that the most affected company in the country is power producer Oltenia Power Complex, which is producing electricity in coal-fired power plants. In 2018, the company paid RON 1.4 billion (around EUR 296 million) for emission allowances. In the same year, the company posted a RON 1.1 billion (EUR 233 million) loss.

Projections by relevant institutions say that the EU carbon price could reach EUR 35 to EUR 40 per ton over the 2019-2023 period.

According to the Report on the functioning of the European carbon market, in addition to free allocation to cover direct carbon costs, EU member states may grant state aid to compensate some electro-intensive industries for indirect carbon costs, i.e. costs resulting from increased electricity prices due to power generators passing on the costs of purchasing allowances to consumers.

To ensure harmonized application of indirect carbon cost compensation across EU member states and minimize competition distortions in the internal market, the European Commission has adopted the EU ETS State Aid Guidelines, which are valid until the end of 2020.

The Guidelines determine, among others, eligible sectors and maximum amounts for compensation of indirect carbon costs.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

belgrade energy forum bef 2025 western balkans region cooperation

BEF 2025: Regional cooperation can facilitate energy transition, energy security

22 May 2025 - Belgrade Energy Forum featured representatives from the governments of Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, the Republic of Srpska, and Serbia, and from UNECE

heating plant ljubljana energetika te tol

Slovenia keeps phasing out coal as key heating plant boosts natural gas share to 60%

22 May 2025 - TE-TOL, the main district heating provider in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, has taken over a newly built gas-steam unit

new york equinor empire wind

Equinor resumes New York offshore wind project of 810 MW after stop-work order lifted

21 May 2025 - The project's first phase, the 810 MW Empire Wind 1, is expected to generate electricity for some 500,000 homes in New York

Romania commission offshore wind study 3 GW 2035

Romania to commission offshore wind study, targeting 3 GW by 2035

21 May 2025 - Romania is receiving expressions of interest for a study identifying areas in the Black Sea for concessions for offshore wind farms