The Russian Association of Wind Power Industry (RAWI), in coordintation with members of the Association, has developed a package of legislative initiatives to improve the position of industry participants in the wholesale and retail market for isolated generators as well as in the new microgeneration market.
The package of legislative initiatives for the wholesale market participants proposes the extension of support for renewable energy beyond 2024 with an annual volume of 1.2-1.5 GW for wind power and a revision of the requirement for qualifying wind farm generation in terms of increasing the minimum threshold to 85% after 2024 and introducing a set of export measures support.
In the retail market, it is proposed to simplify interaction with regulatory authorities, providing data on the volume of generation not more often than once a year and increasing the profitability of projects to 14%.
The market of so-called single source (direct) contracts is a completely new market for renewable energy facilities. In this market, a large consumer purchases electricity directly from a specific wind farm. In today’s legislative field, such direct relationships are complicated by the need to take into account the interests of the local electricity supplier and the inclusion of the network component even when the generator (wind park) and the consumer are in close proximity. In the package of RAWI initiatives, it is proposed to envisage the development of NLA in terms of the possibility of concluding direct PPA contracts (Power Purchase Agreement) between the owner of renewable energy generation and the consumer of electricity; the introduction of a system for identifying the volumes of electricity production from renewable energy generation to enable the purchase of electricity of a particular wind farm by a consumer from another region; and other acts that create opportunities for the formation of a new market.
For the participants of the microgeneration market (they are supposed to be mainly individuals or individual entrepreneurs, farmers, small business representatives), the package of legislative initiatives of the RAWI proposes an increase in the possible power of microgeneration up to 30 kW (the governmental project provides 15 kW); the possibility of establishing a regional tariff and the mandatory bailout of all the electricity produced from the microgeneration facility. Such conditions of regulation will significantly expand the range of market participants, create conditions for the development of new small wind turbines and their production and sale through a retail network.
Russia is a huge country, and in point of fact it has almost whole continent at its disposal and the possibilities for using wind energy systems for the power supply of isolated territories can not be overestimated. According to experts, more than 50 thousand diesel generators are in operation, and the experts estimate this market at 30 thousand MW for the period up to 2030. Supplying fuel to remote regions multiplies its price, and the consequences of traditional fuel delivery in metal barrels have been polluting entire regions for decades. A package of initiatives is proposed to provide tax incentives for generating renewable energy in isolated and remote areas.
A working group for the preparation of these legislative initiatives was established and began its work.