The Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) is a member association, encompassing European issuers of Guarantees of Origin and ensure a common regulative framework, IT solutions and infrastructure for transfer of certificates between members.
The AIB operates an inter-registry telecommunications hub, for facilitating international exchange of certificates which satisfies the criteria of objectivity, non-discrimination, transparency, and cost effectiveness.
The current status of members and member countries can is detailed in AIB FS04, available via the AIB Fact Sheets webpage.
AIB membersBra Miljöval or "Good Environmental Choice" in English, is a Swedish ecolabel managed by Svenska Naturskyddsföreningen (The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, SNF). The logo has excellent brand recognition in Sweden since its presence ranges from laundry detergent to electricity.
For electricity, the requirements for qualifying have become increasingly rigorous over time to drive the development towards a sustainable energy supply. To get licensed, power plants need to comply with strict environmental protection rules and organize their records to be verified by an independent inspector from SNF. In addition, supply contracts must guarantee that the criteria are met in the annual energy balance. Buying Guarantees of Origin with this ecolabel guarantees that the renewable energy adheres to the ecolabel’s requirements.
The power plants eligible for Bra Miljöval certification must meet the following criteria:
Good Environmental Choice labelled electricity consists of the following components:
EKOenergy is an international non-profit ecolabel for energy (renewable electricity and renewable gas). In addition to being renewable, the energy sold with the EKOenergy label fulfills additional sustainability criteria and finances projects that combat energy poverty. This way, the EKOenergy ecolabel brings additionality to renewable energy certificates such as Guarantees of Origin (GOs), RECs and I-RECs. It is an initiative of the EKOenergy Network, a group of more than 40 environmental organizations from 30 countries. Its secretariat is based in Helsinki.
Buying Guarantees of Origin with this ecolabel guarantees that the renewable energy adheres to the ecolabel’s requirements.
Tracking: The criteria are based on European best practice, and on the recommendations of RE-DISS/EPED.
Auditing and verification: All EKOenergy claims are verified by independent auditors.
The electricity certificate or El-cert is a market-based support system for renewable electricity production. End-users finance the system through an added fee to energy bills from suppliers. The system came in to force on the 1st of May 2003 in Sweden and subsequently expanded to Norwegian-Swedish joint electricity certificate market. The combined system has been in operation since 1. January 2012. The scheme has so far proved effective at stimulating investments in renewable electricity capacity and is expected to exceed the joint target of 28.4 TWh (13.2 for Norway and 15.2 for Sweden) additional renewable electricity generation by 2020. Norwegian plants must be operational within the end of 2021 in order to be included in the El-certificate scheme and shall not be allocated El-certificates for production after 2035 Sweden has decided to extend the El-cert scheme until 2030 with an additional 18 TWh Norwegian and Swedish El-certificates will have equal validity in the common market up to and including 1 April 2046. That is to say, Norwegian El-certificates shall be able to fulfil Swedish quota obligations with equal validity as Swedish certificates.
Electricity disclosure was mandated by the European Commission in the revised Electricity Market Directive (2009/72/EC). The directive states that all electricity suppliers must disclose to their customers the contribution of different energy sources to the portfolio of the supplier in the preceding year. Additionally, they must disclose related environmental impact indicators, such as CO2 emissions. The goal of electricity disclosure is to provide consumers with information about their electricity consumption and to allow for informed consumer choice.
As the electricity markets are liberalised and electricity can be traded between nations, an instrument is needed to track the required attributes of electricity. Guarantees of Origin (GOs) is the most commonly used tracking instrument in Europe. For disclosure of the electricity mix, suppliers can use GOs to account for the share of electricity from renewable energy sources they sell. Furthermore, they can also use the residual mix to account for the rest of the electricity that is not tracked through GOs.
The implementation of the directive into national legislation can vary from country to country. In some countries suppliers can also use other reliable tracking systems than GOs. A typical example would be allocation mechanisms for electricity that was supported under a feed-in support scheme.
EECS GOs can be exported to countries who are not part of the AIB via ex-domain cancellation. The GOs are cancelled in the exporting country’s registry and then made available for the non-AIB country.
The EECS is a framework developed by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) to process renewable energy guarantees of origin. An EECS certificate is an electronic certificate that is uniquely identifiable, transferable and tradable and it encloses information on the source of the energy and its production method.
Full disclosure means that the origin of every MWh of electricity has to be declared by using GOs, not only with regards to renewable energy but for all energy sources. Switzerland was the first country to implement full disclosure in 2013, Austria followed in 2015. Netherlands is set to implement full disclosure in 2020.
Grexel, established in 2003, is the registry operator of Guarantees of Origin (GO) for several AIB members, plus for some non-AIB domains. Grexel manages and further develops central GO registries for Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Serbia. Key functions provided by Grexel include
Grexel develops and maintains flexible and dependable software solutions for tracking ownership of GOs. Grexel Certification Framework, a central registry platform, is easily adaptable for various needs and are used by government bodies such as regulators and transmission system operators to facilitate, for example, Guarantee of Origin and green certificate schemes.
In addition to providing technical infrastructure, Grexel also helps the relevant authorities design their green energy markets. This comprises of e.g. disclosure system design regarding guarantees of origin and optimization of financial resources for support schemes.
The Guarantee of Origin (GO) is a tracking certificate that labels electricity attributes/ technology behind generated electricity, as regulated in the article 15 of the European Directive 2009/28/EC. In short, a GO is a "green label" which ensures that one MWh of electricity has been produced from a particular energy source. If the electricity customer buys power which has been certified with GOs, they can be certain that the equivalent amount of electricity has been produced from the energy source stated on the GO.
The GO is further standardised through the European Energy Certificate System (EECS) provided by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB). The EECS makes trade, cancelation and use of GOs standardized across AIB members.
The value of a GO is the premium an electricity consumer is willing to pay for the attributes of the electricity i.e. value of a wind GO is given by how much a consumer is willing to pay more for electricity from wind when compared to undisclosed electricity. The price of a GO is affected by the supply and demand of the GO market.
Refers to the month and year when the electricity was produced.
GOs created in a month for electricity produced in an earlier month.
Transfer is the delivery process of GO from one party to another.
GOs can originate from another country than the country of consumption and can be imported from a registry in another country.
Cancellation is analogous to physical ‘use’ of a GO certificate and is the method for allocating the attributes of the electricity to the single end-user. Cancelling a GO is the only way to redeem its benefits while ensuring that the certificate will not be traded, given, sold, or used by another end-user. Consumer information and avoidance of double counting is the main objective of this system.
International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC) is a tracking certificate, similar to GOs, used to document and report energy coming from renewable energy sources. The I-RECs can be implemented in any country that does not have a similar scheme in place, and it is internationally recognized.
Naturemade is the Swiss quality label for energy from 100% renewable sources. Certification is available at two levels – naturemade star and naturemade basic
Naturemade basic is awarded for electricity and heat from 100% renewable electricity sources. The majority of certified production devices are Swiss large-scale hydropower plants and waste incineration plants.
Naturemade Star is awarded for electricity with a low impact on the environment. The ‘eco-energy’ comes from 100% renewable sources with extensive ecological requirements including aspects such as plant and wildlife around the production site.
OK POWER is a German ecolabel promoting energy from new power plants and is based on renewable energy documented by Guarantees of Origin. It promotes the use of new renewable power plants, the investment in them and contributions to the energy revolution. The Hamburg Institute manages the OK Power ecolabe
Buying Guarantees of Origin with this ecolabel guarantees that the renewable energy adheres to the ecolabel’s requirements.
Optional models:
EUR 0.05 per KWh or EUR 5 per MWh sold is invested into innovative projects that promote energy transition, including energy efficiency measures to innovative electricity storage concepts
The supplier needs to initiate construction of new renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is a contract between a purchaser and supplier of electricity. The contract specifies details such as the volume of electricity to be placed on the grid and how much the consumer will take off. PPAs generally guarantee a price for the electricity during the specified time period. PPAs cannot deliver electricity attributes that are different from the grid-average unless a tracking certificate (like GOs) are transferred in combination with the electricity.
The mix of electricity physically produced (i.e. the share of different electricity types such as hydropower, solar, coal etc.) in a given region/country.
The RE100 is a global corporate leadership initiative bringing together influential businesses committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity.
The initiative is led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, RE100’s purpose is to accelerate change towards zero carbon grids, at global scale.
A non-profit organization of market players in the electricity industry. The foundation is based in Arnheim, Netherlands and represents generators, traders, wholesalers, suppliers and consumers. RECS International strives for an open pan-European renewable energy market and has been involved in the energy market since 2001.
In December 2018, the revised renewable energy directive 2018/2001/EU entered into force, as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package, aimed at keeping the EU a global leader in renewables and, more broadly, helping the EU to meet its emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The revised directive establishes a new binding renewable energy target for the EU for 2030 of at least 32%, with a clause for a possible upwards revision by 2023.
“Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin” are Guarantees of Origin issued in the UK by Ofgem on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) [Great Britain], and in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (NIAUR).
Ofgem issues one REGO certificate per megawatt hour (MWh) of eligible renewable output to generators of renewable electricity. Since the UK is not a member of the AIB, REGOs cannot easily be transferred to other AIB countries. See www.ofgem.gov.uk for more info.
The RO is a scheme introduced by OFGEM (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) as the main support mechanism for large scale renewable electricity projects in the UK. Introduced in 2002, it placed an obligation on UK electricity suppliers to increase the proportion of the electricity they supply from renewable sources. All suppliers in England, Wales and Scotland are affected by the scheme. The RO is met by purchasing Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from producers of renewable energy or from the ROCs market.
The RO obligation level is set each year by The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The level dictates the number of ROCs that suppliers are required to produce per MWh supplied.
For an energy supplier to meet its Renewable Obligation (RO) it must purchase Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs). ROCs can be acquired from renewable generators, or from the ROCs market. On the producer’s side, each generator is assigned a certain number of ROCs each period based on the technology used and the amount of electricity it produces.
A country’s residual mix represents the shares of electricity generation attributes available for disclosure, after the use of explicit tracking systems, such as GOs, have been accounted for. Where attributes refer to information about the electricity generated, such as electricity type.
The mix of electricity as delivered to end consumers in a given region. The supplier mix is influenced by the extent of the purchase of GOs.
TÜV SÜD’s ecolabel certifies electricity produced from renewable resources where generation can be attributed to a clearly identifiable source. TÜV SÜD offers the following standards:
Optional requirements are defined for electrical work and power guarantees (“Generation EE+” module) and for furnishing acceptance as new plants (“Generation EEnew” module).