Guarantees
of origin (GoOs) are certificates that prove the origin of traded
and supplied electricity to costumers. All EU-countries ought to
have a GoO system in place by now (but some still do not). But besides
this lack of legislation in some countries, there are other problems
with the GoO. Proving the origin is one thing, but to avoid double
counting towards statistics, or even double selling of one kWh of
renewable power, the GoO also must be redeemed (taken out of the
market). At present, only the Netherlands and Austria are using
the GoO to monitor disclosure. This means that suppliers are supposed
to redeem GoOs to account for the percentage of renewable energy
in the fuel mix of supplied electricity (in the next year). RECS
International supports this approach and considers this the most
accurate way to inform the consumers about the fuel mix.
The problem with double
counting starts when the country that is using the GoO for disclosure,
imports substantial volumes of renewable electricity. In Austria
and the Netherlands , the information provided by the suppliers
by applying the redemption of the GoO is perfectly sound. The
exporting country must of course subtract the exported renewable
energy in its calculations for disclosure. However, in most cases
this does not happen. Thus the exported renewable energy is used
for disclosure in the exporting country as well as the importing
country: a pure form of double counting.
Currently this double
counting is now happening to both countries, concerning large amounts
of imported renewable electricity. For instance the import in the
Netherlands in 2004 was about 12 TWh (domestic production was around
4 TWh, with a national indicative target of 9 TWh). In 2005 the
import is estimated at 6 TWh. This leads to substantial impact on
the figures used for disclosure. RECS International calls upon the
governments and the European Commission to co-ordinate this better
and come to a uniform policy framework.
Recently RECS International
made an inventory of the use of the GoO by EU member states. The
main conclusion is that governments do not co-ordinate the use of
the GoO, that substantial double counting occurs and possible double
selling. RECS International warns the governments that this might
damage the development of renewable energy. After all, the consumer
is paying for the support for renewable energy in all countries.
With the threat of double counting and double selling, the support
of consumers might be put at risk.
Peter Niermeijer
General Secretary
RECS
International
Source: GP Newsdesk
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