European Commission approves Czech scheme supporting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, finds it does not unduly distort market competition

Allison Oesterle

BRUSSELS , June 11, 2014 (press release) – The European Commission has found that a Czech scheme supporting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources is in line with the EU state aid rules. The Commission concluded in particular that the scheme will further EU energy objectives without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: "The implementation of the scheme helps the Czech Republic to meet its renewable energy targets and achieve its Europe 2020 goals in line with EU state aid rules."

The Czech scheme grants feed-in tariffs and green bonuses to electricity produced from the following renewable energy sources: hydropower, wind, solar, biomass, biogas and geothermal.

The Commission has assessed the support on the basis of the 2008 Environmental Aid Guidelines as for most of the technologies the possibility to enter into the scheme was phased out at the end of 2013. The Czech authorities have committed to a series of amendments in order to bring the scheme in line with the guidelines. They concern, in particular, the modalities of collecting the special surcharge to finance the support, and also introduce mechanisms to avoid that renewable energy producers receive excessive compensation above and beyond additional costs incurred by producing renewable energy.

Today's decision only concerns installations commissioned since 1 January 2013. The Czech budget for 2014 foresees in total around € 91 million for such installations. The decision does not cover support granted to renewable electricity installations put into operation before 1 January 2013.

Background

The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.35177 in the State Aid Register on the competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.

Contacts :

Antoine Colombani (+32 2 297 45 13, Twitter: @ECspokesAntoine )

Yizhou Ren (+32 229-94889)

For the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e­mail

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