Plan for subsidized lower-cost RES power to industry explored

The energy ministry is working on a transitional state-support mechanism that would offer industrial consumers lower-cost electricity stemming from renewable energy sources.

The European Commission offers conditional approval to state aid resulting in green-energy access for energy intensive consumers.

The energy ministry’s effort to establish such a mechanism comes following the exclusion, from a government list of proposals for EU recovery fund support, of a plan envisaging power purchase agreements (PPAs) between industrial enterprises and RES producers.

The ministry’s new effort is expected to be a variation of the plan not included in the government’s list of proposals seeking support through the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The ministry acknowledges that, under present conditions, direct and mutually beneficial agreements between energy-intensive industrial consumers and RES producers cannot be achieved, unless such deals concern companies belonging to vertically integrated groups.

The plan being explored would ensure RES producers remuneration for a percentage of their output absorbed,  through the state-support mechanism, at fixed tariffs and extended periods.