Energy News – 45th Issue-Recent Developments on RES Sector
Energy Markets
EU: Second Report on the State of Energy Union
Electricity
EU: ENTSO-E Recommendations on Cooperation with Third-Country TSOs
Oil & Gas
EnC: CESEC Action Plan 2.0 First Monitoring Report
Competition-State Aid
EU: The Court Rejected Italian RES Measure in Case Portovesme
Renewables
Ukraine: Recent Developments on RES Sector
On 31 January 2017, the National Energy and Utilities
Regulatory Commission (NEURC) issued Resolution No.
148 on Setting the Value of the Cost Per Unit for Non-
Standard Grid Connection of Electrical Installations for
the year 2017. The Resolution concerns grid connection
of electrical installations, including facilities generating
electricity from renewable energy sources (RES), with the
installed capacity from 160 kW to 5 MW. The rates,
established by NEURC for forty (40) electricity
Distribution System Operators (DSOs), range from UAH
3094 to UAH 9428 (UAH 6094 for the vast majority of
DSOs) per 1 kW without VAT. Although the declared
objective of the Resolution is to make the grid connection
procedures and associated costs more transparent, it has
been heavily criticized by the expert community and
Members of the Parliament. Experts claim that application
of the Resolution shall result in a six fold increase in the
rates of non-standard grid connection, making the
majority of RES projects unprofitable, driving away
potential investors and thus suspending further
development of the RES sector in Ukraine. The
Resolution shall come into force upon its publication in
the Official Journal.
In addition, on 17 January 2017, Ukrainian Parliament
adopted Law No. 1817-VIII on Amending Certain
Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding Improvement of
Urban Development. The Law aims to bring current
legislation in line with the best European practices,
prevent unauthorized construction and abuse of the
declarative principle (i.e. deliberate false categorization of
construction objects to avoid a strict authorization
procedure of obtaining a construction permit). In
particular, instead of five (5) categories of difficulty (I-V)
the Law introduces three (3) consequences classes for
construction objects: CC1 – minor consequences, CC2 –
medium consequences and CC3 – significant
consequences. Therefore, construction objects assigned
to categories I-II will now be considered CC1, categories
III-IV – CC2 and category V – CC3. Obtaining a
construction permit and a certificate upon completion of
construction will be necessary for projects assigned to
CC2 and CC3 (including RES projects). The Law is
expected to become effective on 10 June 2017.
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