Wallonia’s parliament passes green certificate bill

The text provides a “structural and sustainable” solution to the imbalance currently existing on the green-certificate market, Wallonia’s Energy Minister Jean-Luc Crucke said at the debate on the measure. He also argued that it “will cost consumers nothing.”

The bill, presented by the Mouvement Réformateur – Centre Démocrate Humaniste (MR-cdH) coalition in mid-September, was approved on Monday by a parliamentary commission, and passed on Tuesday night at a plenary session of the regional parliament.

Under the existing system, Elia – a federal body in charge of energy transmission – is required to buy back green certificates from generators of renewable energy, such as wind farms, solar installations, and facilities that generate electricity from tidal energy.

This federal support mechanism is valid for 10 years after the facility in question is commissioned.

During the debate, Minister Crucke noted that BNP Paribas Fortis would now finance the debt linked to the green-certificate system by creating a special vehicle for buying back and cancelling out surplus green certificates from Elia.

That operation will be financed by issuing obligations with a “green” label, reimbursed through an Elia surtax that Walloon consumers will be required to pay for 20 years more on their electricity bills, as the Socialists (PS) and Ecologists (Ecolo) pointed out during the debates.

Oscar Schneider
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