Energy from Renewable Sources Act

The Energy from Renewable Sources Act replaces the Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources and Biofuels Act (2008), which was the first national legislation entirely dedicated to the renewable energy sources, mainly introducing the requirements of the related EU directives. The 2008 Act established support mechanisms that provided for 'equal preferential treatment for producers of electricity (green certificates); mandatory inclusion of utilities generating electricity from RES and biofuels into the national grid; establishing preferential prices for purchasing energy generated from RES (feed-in tariffs); and reducing the administrative burden on producers. The Act resulted in a rapid development of RES (wind and photovoltaic), which put upward pressure on electricity prices. As a result in June 2011 the Parliament adopted the Energy from Renewable Sources Act. The new legislation kept RES preferential treatment options but introduced a preference for energy from biomass and shifted the balance of power from RES producers to grid operators and allowed for a substantial reduction of the prices of energy from photovoltaic (PV)'.