Energy certificate: Difference between revisions

Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), as a generic term, are sometimes also called electricity attribute certificates, and furthermore include, according to the GHG Protocol “…a variety of instruments with different names, including certificates, tags, credits, or generator declarations”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/Scope2_ExecSum_Final.pdf|title=GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance executive summary, An amendment to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard|last=WRI World Resources Institute|date=2015|website=GHG Protocol.|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref> To simplify the wording, the generic term '''''certificates''''' can be used also and then further specified by the terminology of the different tracking systems which exists worldwide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://energy-attribute-certificates.com/|title=frontpage|last=Germeroth|date=|website=Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs)|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref>

Energy certificates issued under national legislation are normally used to provide evidence of compliance, with an obligation on electricity producers, suppliers or consumers to use energy of a specific type or in order to qualify for financial support: qualifying plants are often high-quality co-generators, or produce electricity from renewable sources. Examples of this within Europe are: the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) issued under the [[Renewables Obligation]], and Levy Exemption Certificates (LECs) issued under the [[Climate Change Levy]] - originally part of the [[Finance Act 2001]] - within the UK; Certificati Verdi within Italy; Elcerts within Sweden; and also within the three regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) of Belgium. At the time of writing, almost all such support schemes are national in character only, the transfer of certificates to and from other countries not being the intention of the policymakers. A notable exception is the [[Climate Change Levy]]: LECs are issued by the UK regulator to electricity producers both in the UK and in a number of European countries and exported to the UK, where they are purchased as proof of production of [[renewable energy]] production.

The European Union has also created internationally-transferable "guarantees of origin" to provide proof to consumers of the source of their electricity, as required by [[Internal Market in Electricity Directive|Directive 2009/72/EC]]. These are used by electricity suppliers when calculating the proportions of energy sources (eg fossil, nuclear etc) in their supplied energy; and by government in calculating the "residual mix" (i.e. the blend of different sources of electricity produced in a country, adjusted for imports and exports). [[Directive 2009/28/EC]] and [[Directive 2012/27/EC]] give life to (respectively) guarantees of origin for [[renewable energy]] and highly-efficient co-generation, for use within the European Union and those countries with which it is bound by treaty (currently the [[European Economic Area]] and [[Energy Community]] of South East Europe countries). The international transfer of guarantees of origin is facilitated by the [[Association of Issuing Bodies]]' [[European Energy Certificate System]].