Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Feed-in tariff (Guaranteed Price)
Updated: 31.12.2018
Author: Ivana Naydenova
In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the main support scheme for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources is a feed-in tariff, regulated by the RES Law FBiH and special Decrees and Rulebooks. The plant operators need to obtain the status of a „privileged power producer“ („privilegovani proizvođač električne energije“) and in order to acquire the right to a price support for the generated electricity under the legal requirements. After having concluded a power purchase agreement with the plant operator, the Operator for Renewable Energy Sources and coefficient cogeneration (hereinafter: RES Operator) is legally obliged to buy the total amount of electric energy from privileged producers at an incentive price. The amount of the feed-in tariff is determined in the Decision on the determination of the guaranteed prices for electricity from renewable energy sources and efficient cogeneration and depends on the type of technology and the capacity of the power plant.
Eligible technologies
In general, all technologies are eligible; however, some limitations with regard to the installed power (in particular micro-plants from 2 kW – 23 kW) apply.
| Solar energy | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. c RES Decree FBiH). |
|---|---|
| Wind energy | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. b RES Decree FBiH). |
| Geothermal energy | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. f RES Decree FBiH). |
| Biogas | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. e RES Decree FBiH). |
| Hydro-power | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. a RES Decree FBiH). |
| Biomass | Eligible (Art. 19 § 2 lit. d and g RES Decree FBiH). |
Amount
The method of calculating or changing the feed-in tariff follows the Rulebook on the Methodology on determining the Guaranteed Prices for Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration. The particular amount depends on the technology and the “size category”, i.e. the capacity of the facility, under which the power plant falls (see classification in Art. 15 RES Decree FBiH): a) micro plants: 2 kW – 23 kW, b) mini plants: 23 kW – 150 kW, c) small plants: 150 kW – 1 MW, d) medium plants: 1 MW – 10 MW, e) large plants: over 10 MW. The current amounts are determined in the annex of the Decision on the determination of the guaranteed prices for electricity from renewable energy sources and efficient cogeneration from 3 July 2017. During the trial operation the purchase price amounts to the reference price, which is at KM 0.105858 per kWh (€ct 5.4124 per kWh since 3 August 2017 (Art. 1 Reference Price Decision). For micro-plants the same values apply for the respective technology (Art. 27 § 4 RES Law FBiH).
| Wind energy |
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| Solar energy |
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| Geothermal energy | The Guaranteed Price Decision entails no feed-in tariff for geothermal power plants. |
| Biogas |
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| Hydro-power |
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| Biomass |
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Addressees
This support scheme is addressed to plant operators, who hold the status of privileged producers. The obligated party is the Operator for Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration (see III.IV Decision on the establishment of the Operator for Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration).
Procedure
Process flow | Status of “qualified producer” First of all, the plant operator needs to request from the Regulatory Commission (Regulatorna komisija za energiju u Federaciji Bosne i Hercegovine, Art. 17 Electricity Law FBiH) to give him the status of a “qualified producer” (Art. 20 § 2 RES Law FBiH, also see Art 42 § 2 Electricity Law). He can obtain this status, if he has an operation permit for a power plant that produces energy from renewable energy sources (or efficient cogeneration) and fulfils the requirements in Art. 6 and 8 Qualified Producer Decree. The qualified producer is always entitled to sell the produced electricity for a uniform “reference price” for all technologies (see Art. 3 § 1 lit. z.dd. RES Law FBiH). The price is calculated pursuant to the Rulebook on the Methodology for Determining the Reference Price for Electricity (Pravilnik o metodologiji za utvrđivanje referentne cijene električne energije) and the current amount is determined by the Decision on the Reference Price for the Year 2014 (Odluka o referentnoj cijeni za 2014. Godinu). Status of “privileged producer“ Secondly, the plant operator needs to obtain the status of a “privileged producer“. A privileged producer of electricity is a qualified producer, who has been given the right to demand the guaranteed price for the purchase of all of the produced electricity from RES (Art. 23 § 1 RES Law FBiH). In order to receive this status, the plant operator files a request to the RES Operator (Art. 23 § 3 RES Law FBiH). This request entails (Art. 23 § 7 RES Law FBiH):
The plant producer also needs to show the use permit for his power plant from renewable energy sources, by which he also proves that he already is a qualified producer (see Art. 3 § 1 lit. q RES Law FBiH), and an energy permit. If the RES Operator issues a favourable decision, the qualified producer obtains the status of privileged producer for a period of 12 years (Art. 23 § 16 RES Law FBiH) and has the right to conclude a power purchase agreement (see below). It is also possible to obtain the status of “potentially privileged producer” (“potencijalni privilegovani proizvođač“), if the special requirements from Art. 20 § 5 RES Decree, such as a construction and an energy permit, can be met. Power purchase agreement The privileged power producer needs to put forward a request for the conclusion of a “power purchase agreement for a guaranteed price” (“Ugovor o otkupu električne energije po garantovanim otkupnim cijenama“, Art. 10 § 1 lit. C RES Law FBiH). Among other things this agreement regulates the rights and obligations between the privileged power producer and the RES Operator, the exact price, contract period, technical issues and information obligations (Art. 26 § 5 RES Law FBiH). Thus, the RES Operator is obliged to purchase the total amount of produced energy from renewable energy sources. If the plant operator only obtained the status of a potentially privileged power producer, he may conclude a “preliminary power purchase agreement” (“Predugovor za otkup električne energije od privilegovanih proizvođača“, Art. 26 § 2 RES Law FBiH). The preliminary agreement includes basically the same provisions as the ordinary power purchase agreement, with the shorter contract period and the deadline for the construction being the main difference. For this purpose, he files a written request to the RES Operator and, if all the requirements are met, the RES Operator is obliged to conclude the contract (compare Art. 25 § 5 and 6 RES Decree FBiH). Micro-plants Pursuant to Art. 27 § 2 RES Law FBiH a shortened procedure applies to owners of micro power plants (2 kW – 23 kW) in accordance with the Rulebook for micro plants using renewable energy sources (“Pravilnik za mikro-postrojenja obnovljivih izvora energije“). Moreover, the owner of micro-plants are exempt from the costs associated with the balance responsibility (Art. 27 § 6 RES Law FBiH). |
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Competent authority | The competent authority is the Operator for Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration (RES Operator). |
Cap
Pursuant to Art. 22 RES Decree FBiH the total installed power is laid down in the National Action Plan for the use of renewable energy sources 2010-2020 (“Akcioni Plan Federacije BiH za korištenje obnovljivih izvora energije“, APOEF) placed in the Annex of “Action Plan for the use of renewable energy in Bosnia and Herzegovina until 2020” (NREAP BiH). Until the year 2020 following limitations are foreseen :
1. Hydro power plants with a capacity of < 1 MW cannot exceed 25 MW, 1 MW – 10 MW cannot exceed 55 MW, > 10 MW cannot exceed 85 MW,
2. Solar power plants < 1 MW cannot exceed 1 MW,
3. Wind power plants cannot exceed 230 MW.
APOEF is available under: Link
NREAP BiH is available under: Link
Eligibility period
The power purchase agreements have a duration of 12 years (Art. 26 § 6 RES Law FBiH).
Distribution of costs
| Consumers | The support scheme is funded by a fee that is charged on each kWh purchased by the final consumers (Art. 22 § 1 RES Law FBiH). The fee is subject to the provisions of the Decree on the promotion of the electricity production from renewable energy sources and efficient cogeneration and on the determination of the incentive fee (“Uredba o podsticanju proizvodnje električne energije i OIEiEK i određivanju naknada za podsticanje”). The current amount is described in Art. 4 § 6 RES Decree FBiH and depends on the voltage level. |
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| Distribution mechanism | The distribution mechanism is described in the RES Decree FBiH: All final consumers are obliged to pay an incentive fee for the promotion of the electricity production from renewable energy sources and efficient cogeneration (“naknada za podsticanje proizvodnje iz OIEiEK”) for each delivered kWh of electriticy, which the supplier is required to indicate separately in the electricity bill (Art. 3 § 2 and 3 RES Decree FBiH). According to Art. 10 § 1 RES Decree FBiH the fee represents the income of the RES Operator, who consequently is responsible for the collection of the funds from the supplier (Art. 10 § 1 lit. l RES Law FBiH). The RES Operator also has information duties towards the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry with regards to the actual and estimated consumption in order to create a basis for the yearly decision on the amount of the fee (Art. 4 § 4 and 5 RES Decree FBiH). |
