The Public Union "Ukrainian Wind Energy Association" (UWEA) appealed to the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine with proposals to stabilize payments in the electricity market.
The war significantly affected the structure of sources of the State Enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" to cover the "green" tariff, namely, the payment of compensation for the service of RES development was suspended, the trade profile of the guaranteed buyer was worsened and the amount of unsold electricity increased, UWEA reports on Facebook.
The appeal noted that the RES sector will be a key part of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction and ensure the path of "green" transition and European integration.
UWEA noted that the payment of compensation for the RES development service by Ukrenergo has been suspended, and the level of acceptance of RDN has been reduced from 80% to 50%. In addition, the amount of unsold electricity paid for has increased balancing market by NEC Ukrenergo.
“The current level of payment for SES and WPPs is only 15% –16%, and this is barely enough to cover the critical costs for the existence of RES stations themselves. At As a result, the Guaranteed Buyer currently receives sufficient funds from the sale of electricity to provide payments to renewable energy producers of approximately 30%, but only part of this funding goes directly to renewable energy producers, ”the statement said.
UWEA also added that revenues are not enough not only to cover interest for banks, but also to cover operating costs (OPEX).
Another problem for the industry is the potential charge of VAT on the service of reducing the load on RES, because in the absence of revenues from "Ukrenergo" for the restriction, it imposes additional costs on producers without a source of coverage.
To protect and preserve the renewable energy industry, UWEA proposes to ensure the stability of payments through the following measures:
- Direct all funds from the sale of electricity from RES Guaranteed buyer to RES producers, provide a level of payment that will allow producers to cover operating costs, taxes and fees for imbalances.
This will allow the industry to receive up to 35% of the payment, which will ensure operating costs.
- Ensure the fulfillment of obligations to foreign partners, which should create a further opportunity for debt restructuring.
To do this, you need to increase the payment to RES producers to a level sufficient for ensuring the fulfillment of obligations to creditors to pay interest. For this is necessary:
- reduce the volume of RES restrictions by NEC Ukrenergo to at least 20%;
- increase the efficiency of the Guaranteed Buyer's trade with the achievement of the level acceptance of applications for RDN up to 70%;
- to provide settlements with the Guaranteed Buyer for imbalances on the part of NEC Ukrenergo;
- partially resume payments to NEC Ukrenergo for the service of increasing the share of RES to the address of the Guaranteed Buyer.
Steps are also needed to ensure that the level of RES settlements is sufficient to repay the principal amount of borrowings from RES creditors.
To achieve this goal UWEA offers to launch full-fledged payments to Ukrenergo for the service of increasing the share of RES to the address of the Guaranteed Buyer and to start payments for limiting the capacity of RES.
The material noted that a set of additional measures can be envisaged to stabilize the RES sector, such as:
- mitigation of RES responsibility for imbalances;
RES will be liable for imbalances only in the event of losses of the Guaranteed Buyer due to non-compliance with the forecast RES schedules, and not for the fact that the Guaranteed Buyer was unable to sell electricity on the market.
- to establish the cash method of accrual and payment of VAT on the service to reduce the load on RES;
- make the Guaranteed Buyer a provider of balancing services in terms of restrictions;
- determine the mechanism, sources and terms of payment for debts for 2021-2022 to producers of RES.
We will remind, In Ukraine, enterprises RES is threatened with bankruptcy.
As EcoPoliticа reported earlier, The United States and the European Commission have issued a joint statement on European energy security.
