ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr.

69

The advantages of Romania in the Cooperation

Mechanisms Promoted by the EU Directive of Renewables
1

Cristian NREANU , Francesco DALLA LONGA

Abstract
The cooperation mechanisms (CM) were designed to provide MS with greater flexibility to achieve their National targets as well as to
achieve the European 20% Renewable Energy Sources (RES) target in a cost-effective way. Based on model results from the
RES4LESS project -which take into account all MS technologies generation costs, potentials and RES National targets-, this paper
analyzes how could Romania take advantage of the the cooperation mechanisms for RES industry further development. This work not
only explores what cooperation opportunities exist for Romania but also provides a qualitative assessment of what other factors are
likely to play a key role in materializing or not such opportunities.
Keywords: cooperation mechanisms, renewable energy sources

1. Introduction
The Directive 2009/28/EC [4] sets legally
binding targets for all Member States (MS),
such that the EU will reach a 20 % share of
energy from renewable energy sources
(RES) by 2020. Part of this can be reached
using cross-border CM.
According
to
the
Directive,
the
cooperation between Member States could
be implemented via a suitable mechanism
falling under one of the following three
categories:
1) statistical transfer, MS governments
agree to statistically transfer a specified
quantity of RES produced from one MS
to another. This specified amount will
be
deducted
from
the
RES
contributions of one MS and added to
the others.
2) joint projects, where two or more MS
may agree to finance a RES project
jointly, thus sharing the costs and
benefits of the project (i.e. a specific
new plant is built and the output of the
plant shared physically or statistically
among the participating MS).
3) joint support schemes, where two or
more MS may decide to partly or fully
coordinate their national support
schemes. This shall allow a certain
1

Cristian NREANU: Eng.; ENERO (Centre for

Promoting the Green and Efficient Energy in Romania, Str.
Feroviarilor, nr.51, et.3. ap. 13, sector 1, Bucureti,
Romnia; c.tantareanu@enero.ro
2
Francesco DALLA LONGA: PhD Phys.; Westerduinweg 3,
1755 LE Petten, The Netherlands; dalla@ecn.nl

amount of energy from renewable

sources produced in one MS to count
towards the national targets of another
through an agreed distribution rule.
The main objective of any CM is to reduce
the overall costs of the RES European target
fulfilment [5]:
The receiving (user country) obtains or
reports green power at lower costs,
compared to the case where the same
amount of energy is indigenously
produced.
The transferring (host country) sells
advantageously the energy, or the
corresponding green credits, produced
from surplus RES.
CMs were not introduced to substitute the
national support schemes, but rather in
addition to them. Any variant of cooperation
for RES transfer may be considered within
CMs. All conditions of the CM arrangement
between two countries are subject of
negotiations.
CMs are stated in the Romanian Law
no.220 [14].
This paper analyzes how Romania could
utilize its biomass surpluses within CMs,
based on preliminary results from the
RES4LESS project.
The cooperation mechanisms regard RES
electricity (RES-E) and RES heat as well, but
in this paper, we are focusing only on the
RES electricity surpluses versus the national
RES electricity targets in 2020.
The work is divided into section as
follows: in section 2 the RES4LESS project

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ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 2

is introduced including the methodology and

systematically analyses of the RES
surpluses in order to identify the most
promising
Valleys
of
Opportunity,
independently
of
the
cooperation
mechanisms that may be put in place.
Section 3 presents the Romanian biomass
case study for CMs while section 4 identifies
the opportunities and barriers that may
appear for developing the cooperation.
Finally, the section 5 presents the
conclusion of the work.
2. RES4LESS project objectives and
methodology to identify
opportunities for cooperation
RES4LESS is an Intelligent Energy
Europe project focusing on the development
of a Roadmap to a cost efficient and
sustainable development of renewable
energy sources in the period up to 2020 and
2030.
A wide variety of expertise will concur to
meet the objectives of this project.
The RES4LESS consortium is comprised
by the Energy research Centre of the
Netherlands (coordinator), the Technical
University of Denmark, IT POWER in the
UK, Enviros in the Czech Republic, Institute
for Applied Ecology (Oeko Institute) in
Germany, Centre for Promotion of Clean and
Efficient Energy in Romania (Enero) and
Centre for Energy, Environment and
Technology (Ciemat) in Spain.
The specific objectives of the project are:
Identification and quantification of
Valleys of Opportunity (VoO) for power
production from wind, biomass and
solar energy in the EU27+;
Analysis of CM to exploit surplus RES
Electricity potentials in EU27+;
Analysis of benefits and costs of
coordinated and cooperative approach
to achieving national RES electricity
targets compared to a national and
fragmented approach;
Grid implications of CMs;
Final Roadmap to successfully
implement CMs allowing for a more
cost-efficient development pathway
towards the overall EU 20 % RES
target by 2020, and beyond;
Strong involvement and dialogue with
stakeholder and policy makers, and up

taking of project results in the relevant

policy process.
In this paper, the following definitions are
adopted:
Surplus Potential: potential for
deployment of RES over and above
what a country needs to meet its 2020
RES obligations.
Valleys of Opportunity: a fraction of
this surplus potential that is readily
exploitable via a suitable CM.
In order to quantify the renewable
electricity surplus potentials per region and
per technology and to analyze possible
VoOs for cooperation among EU Member
States, ECNs model of Europes renewable
electricity sector, RESolve-E, was used.
Surpluses are identified by constructing
the RES-E cost supply curve (CSC) for each
MS, and plotting the corresponding RES
target against it.
This is shown in Figure 1, where the CSC
of two MSs are displayed: the shaded areas
beyond the targets (bullet points in the
graph) represent the surpluses of the two
MSs.

Figure 1. Surplus potential is identified as the part of

a CSC beyond the target (bullet point)

With reference to Figure 2, the user

Country, MS-2, may exploit the surplus
potential of Host Country, MS-1, as soon as
the costs of its own energy technologies are
above line L1, representing the marginal
costs of MS-1s RES target.

Figure 2. Parallel view of CSCs for two MSs, MS-1

and MS-2

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 2

3. Results - Case study for a CM with

Romania as Host country
It is generally agreed that Romania has a
high biomass potential [2], [7]. The realistic
potentials for the period 2020-2025, reported
in Table 1, are an encouraging premise to
identify Romania as a possible host country
within a VoO.
Table 1. Realistic biomass energy potential in
Romania up to 2020-2025
Forestry and wood waste
90 PJ/year
Agricultural waste
100 PJ/year
Biogas (animal waste, food 30 PJ/year
industry, sewage sludge,
landfill)
MSW
6 PJ/year
Energy crops
35 PJ/year

A part of forestry and agricultural waste is

currently used to cover part of the national
heat demand and is burnt inefficiently in rural
stoves. The use of the rest by modern
technologies producing electricity is still
neglected.
According to the National Renewable
Action Plan (NREAP), Romania intends to
contribute with only 9.2 % (2.9 TWh)
biomass electricity to the 2020 RES-E target
[3], [8]. This target is relatively low, when
compared to that of other MSs in Central and
Eastern Europe. Poland foresees a biomass
electricity contribution to their quota of
14.22 TWh [9], five times higher, while the
biomass realistic potential in Poland is only
c.a. 2.5 higher then in Romania [2]. Hungary,
a country with much less biomass potential
than Romania is already producing in 2010,
2 TWh electricity from solid biomass and
foresees 3.3 TWh in 2020 [10].
Therefore, the identified realistic biomass
potential appears on the Romania CSC as
6-7 TWh surplus potential by 2020 (see
Figure 3).

Romania

Target RO

Netherlands

Target NL

50
45
40
Costs [ct/kWh]

If allowed to make use of the Host

Countrys surplus, the User Country will
likely choose to develop in parallel the
cheapest part of its own potential (pMS-2)
and of MS-1s surplus (pMS-1).
This process will continue until the total
potential developed (pMS-1 + pMS-2)
enables MS-2 to reach its RES target.
Based on the methodology outlined in
Figure
2,
several
opportunities
for
cooperation in EU were identified [1]. In the
following sections, we will focus on the
Romania case study.

71

35
30
25
20
15
10
biomass surplus

5
0
0.000

10000.000

20000.000

30000.000

40000.000

50000.000

60000.000

Potential [GWh]

Figure 3. Parallel view of the Romania and

Netherlands RES CSCs

The Romanian biomass surplus over the

2020 quota has a relative low cost
(130-150 Euro/MWh. This qualifies the
biomass resource as a VoO for a CM with
several potential User Countries in Europe
[1, 2, 12].
Other surplus resources seem less
convenient for a VoO:
wind: almost consumed its realistic
potential due to grid acceptance
limitation;
sun: offer is not competing to other
countries potential (e.g. Spain);
cooperation on hydro is possible, but
asks for more elaborated projects,
higher capital, including more general
water resource planning issues.
The analyses up to now, shows that
Romania is on a good track to fulfil the 2020
target, and specifically the RES-E target:
expected more wind energy than
estimated in the NREAP: 9.5 TWh
versus 8.4 TWh;
expected more solar power: 0.8 TWh
versus 0.32 TWh.
Therefore, the risk that Romania will need
more than the stated 2.9 TWh biomass for
the national target is low, and a potential of
about 2 TWh/year could realistically be
dedicated to CMs.
Which biomass sources are suitable? [6]
Agricultural waste
Energy crops on unused land
Animal waste
The forestry biomass will not be
considered
because
of
sustainability
constraints.
How the User country did was chosen?
RESolve-E identified among possible
interested User countries the Netherlands,

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ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 2

and UK. Reaching the 2020 RES target will

be a serious challenge for Nederland, as
they have to improve their renewable energy
shares from 4.6 % in 2010 to 14 % [13].
From Figure 3, it can be seen that the
Netherlands would benefit from a much
lower cost if they choose to develop surplus
biomass available in Romania.
In addition, the Netherlands is already
looking into cooperation opportunities as in a
recent letter to the Dutch Parliament, the
Dutch ministry of Economic, Agriculture and
Innovation (EL&I) proposed the import of
RES from other EU member states, via
cooperation mechanisms, as a possible
means to achieve the Dutch RES target. The
letter is partly based on RES4LESS results
and several bilateral consultation meetings
between EL&I and ECN.
Given the above, Netherlands seems to
be one of the best candidates for the User
country within a CM.
The suggested variant for a cooperation
mechanism would be a special support
framework in Romania for a number of small
and medium size projects. The energy
produced would then be transferred
(statistically) to the User country.
The management of biomass projects
registered in Romania for the cooperation
mechanism and their output could be
organized starting from the good experience
on
the
Green
Certificates
(GC)
procedures [11]. A similar managing track,
with the same actors as for GCs (Regulatory
body ANRE, Transport and Distribution
System Operators, the Commercial Operator
OPCOM), may be put in place for the
cooperation mechanism (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. The management track of the cooperation

scheme

The biomass project developers will

obtain revenue from selling the power on the
grey market (as in the GC system) and also
from selling the green value of the power to
the User country.
Beside the cost of the statistically
transferred green power, the User country
may pay agreed indirect costs (environment,
scheme management, sell-out of RES
potential etc) to go to the Host country.
The range between the price asked by
the Romania for the biomass green
electricity (indicative, 65-75 Euro/MWh) to
the marginal costs for target fulfilment or
penalties for non-compliance in the User
country, offers the space for a win-win
agreement.
4. Opportunities for a biomass
cooperation mechanism in Romania
In Figure 5, the estimated evolution of
RES-E production (without large hydro)
versus the 2020 target is presented, with and
without the 2 TWh intended for the CM.
16
14
12
10
8
6
RES-E targets

Expected RES-E

2
0
2010

RES-E + biomass cooperation

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Year

Figure 5 Estimated evolution of RES-E production

(excluding large hydro)

The national RES-E support system (a

Green Certificates quota), is granted only for
projects commissioned by the end of
2016 [14].
Another specific is that from 2018 the
wind projects will be granted only
1 GC/MWh, instead of 2 GC/MWh [14].
Under theses circumstances, it is rational
that almost all capacities planned by
developers to cover the 2020 RES target,
and therefore to benefit from GCs revenue,
be put in place before 2017.
The in-progress RES projects are in large
majority wind energy based, rushing to
obtain as soon as possible the 2 GC/MWh
until 2018. Wind projects are more advanced
as implementation and their contribution
almost confiscated the market for the RES

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 2

target in 2020 [15].

The above market reaction to the
Romanian RES support system conditions is
expected to lead to a RES-E surplus starting
in 2015, but fading towards 2020.
The biomass technologies arriving with a
delay on the market, due to higher capital
costs and raw material supply risks, even
profitable under the support mechanism,
may find a low domestic market for their
GCs, as left from wind and hydro. RES
projects developers, mainly for biomass
resources will welcome after 2016 any
alternative support scheme for their
business. This gives a clear incentive for the
engagement within a CM.
Other advantages to develop the biomass
energy within an alternative support
mechanism are:
significant investments in the energy
sector;
diversifies the mix of power
technologies, with positive effect on
security of supply;
dispersed generation may decrease
the losses in the distribution grid and
become part of local smart grid
structures;
make use of the national biomass
resource to produce and sell an
added-value product trigger the
implementation
of
modern
and
innovative technologies on biomass,
which may be replicated as best
practices also within the domestic RES
target, mainly after 2020, when wind
energy has limited potential for further
development and biomass will be a
main RES contributor;
bring economic activity in rural or less
developed territories;
may contribute to the balancing of the
power system.
The main barriers versus the CM are:
uncertainties on the biomass resource
supply security
reluctance from the Host country to
conclude legal obligations within the
CM due to uncertainties related to
fulfillment of own target in 2020, or to
the expected market reaction to the
CM support scheme;
public and political reluctance in the
User country to pay for the green
energy produced in another country,

73

but with no effect on national economy

and jobs;
difficulties to quantify the indirect costs
involved;
unwillingness of the user country to
import bioelectricity when they could
import raw biomass;
uncertainties on the effect of exploiting
unused biomass resources on the
biomass prices;
uncertainty about political stability in
Romania;
In order to address these barriers, the
scheme may be developed in a flexible and
dynamic approach, starting with lower
targets, and updating its main parameters
(target, the price of the green electricity)
following the real market feed backs. The
RES4LESS in progress work also try to bring
to decisional bodies the right arguments to
facilitate their engagement in a CM.
5. Conclusions
Based on preliminary results of the
RES4LESS project, this paper shows that
cooperation mechanisms on renewable
energy among EU member states offer a
good opportunity for Romania to an efficient
exploitation of its biomass potential.
Romania as a host country may address
a cooperation mechanism to transfer
biomass green electricity to a user country:
within a special support scheme, able
to gather multiple projects;
qualifying (only) efficient biomass
technologies using mainly agricultural
waste and energy crops;
with a defined green power total target
(up to 2 TWh/year in 2020).
A specific case has been identified with
the Netherlands as User Country, with
potential economical advantages for both
MSs. However, several barriers still need to
be addressed before this opportunity can be
considered realistic.
6. Acknowledgment
This work was co financed by the EACI
(Executive Agency for Competitiveness &
Innovation) under the Intelligent Energy
Europe Programme, Grant Agreement no.:
IEE/09/999/SI2.558312, RES4LESS project
2011-2012.
The authors would like to thank the
RES4Less partners for the teamwork and

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 2

74

support in the development of the project.

7. References
Dalla Longa F, Bole-Rentel T, Methodology to
identify possible valleys of opportunity for
cooperation among EU countries, ECN
December 2011, Deliverable D2.2 of the
RES4LESS
project
Online:
http://www.res4less.eu/files/deliverables/Res
4Less_D2.2_final_O11081.pdf
nreanu C, Badi L, ten Donkelaar M et al.,
Biomass valleys of opportunity in Eastern
Europe, Deliverable 2.4 of the RES4LESS
project
Online:
http://www.res4less.eu/
files/deliverables/D2%204_120228_JTH_Fin
al.pdf
[1] Beurskens L, Hekkenberg M, Vethman P
(2011), Renewable Energy Projections in the
National Renewable Energy Action Plans of
the European Member States, in ECN
November 2011.
[2] European Commission, RES Directive
2009/28/EC, 2009.
[3] Bistola F. Pause, Cooperation MechanismsLegal overview and Important Aspects of the
EU RES-Directive, in 9th Workshop of the
International Feed-In Cooperation (IFIC),
Athens , 2012.
[4] Cornelissen S, Koper M, Deng Y, The role of
bioenergy in a fully sustainable global energy
system, in ELSEVIER, Biomass and
Bioenergy Vol. 41, June 2012, pp. 21-33.
[5] nreanu C, Badi L, Ion N, Scenarios for
renewable energy development in Romania,
in EEA, 57(2009), No.3.
[6] ***, National Renewable Energy Action Plan
(NREAP), Bucharest, 2010.
[7] ***, National Renewable Energy Action Plan,
Warsaw, 2010.
[8] ***, Hungarys Renewable Energy Utilisation
Action Plan on trends in the use of renewable
energy sources until 2020, December 2010.
[9] ***, The ANRE Order no. 43/2011 on the
Regulation on green certificates (GC), in
Monitorul official, no. 768/1 November 2011.
[10] Dalla Longa F, Synthesis Report on Possible
Valleys of Opportunity for Cooperation

Machanisms in Europe, Based on Wind,

Biomass and Solar Energy Technologies,
Deliverable D2.6 of the RES4LESS project,
February 2012, Online: http://www.res4less.
eu/files/deliverables/D2%206_120222_final.pdf
[11] Atanasiu B, The role of bioenergy in the
National Renewable Energy Action Plans: a
first identification of issues and uncertainties,
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[12] ***, Law 220/2008 on The promotion system
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electricity
production
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RES,
republished, with subsequent amendments,
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[13]Transelectrica
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RES
grid
connection contracts, 2012.

8. Biography
Cristian NREANU is born
in Bucharest (Romania), on
rd
October 3 , 1946. He graduated
the University Politehnica of
Bucharest (Romnia), the Faculty
of Power Engineering, in 1969.
He is Director and Scientific Researcher at
Enero, in Bucharest (Romania). His research
interests concern power engineering, renewable
energy, and energy efficiency.
Francesco DALLA LONGA is
born in Valdobbiadene, Italy, on
th
December 17 , 1978. He
graduated the University of
Padova (Italy), in 2003. He
received the PhD degree in
applied physics from the Eindhover University
of Technology (the Netherlands) in 2008.
He works as a Scientific Researcher in the
Policy Studies unit of ECN since October 2010.
His research interests concern renewable
energy, and his main interests are the
implementation of cross-border cooperation
mechanisms in EU, and novel approaches to
modelling the renewable energy sector. He is
co-ordinating the RES4LESS project.