On 1 March 2022, the new cogeneration support scheme will be launched, said State Secretary at the Romanian Ministry of Energy Niculae Havrilet.
However, the conditions will be much more restrictive. Havrilet noted that a large part of the current cogeneration support scheme beneficiaries will no longer qualify, because they use outdated technology. In November 2020, the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has increased the tax for highly-efficient cogeneration has been increased, which is paid by end consumers of electricity. The contribution for high-efficiency cogeneration is approved in the amount of 0.0046 euros/kWh, excluding VAT. Currently, the fees collected from end-users are distributed as subsidies to around 40 power plants in Romania that use this technology. The cogeneration tax was cut by 16 % in April 2020, after Prime Minister Ludovic Orban argued that it failed to meet its purpose since no new cogeneration plants has been developed recently. Since 2010 when it was introduced, some 2 billion euros were collected from end-users, but only a fraction of that amount was invested in new cogeneration capacities, PM Orban claimed.
