One of the most significant actions that any individual or organization can take to reduce carbon-emissions and support the green energy transition, is to choose carbon-free electricity.
Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) have existed for over 20 years as the mechanism for consumers to reliably attribute electricity from a particular source without the risk of double counting or other fraud - these have been incorporated into European legislation as ‘Guarantees of Origin’ (GOs) since 2006.
Like nearly all EACs today, GOs are still based on ‘annual matching’ of supply and demand, meaning, for example, that solar energy produced during daylight hours in summer can be claimed at any point throughout a 12-month window. There is now widespread support for a shift to a sub-hourly matching period using timestamped energy certificates. This would enable more credible green energy products and establish an important new price signal for energy storage and flexibility.
In our new joint whitepaper with Granular Energy and AFRY Management Consulting, Nord Pool explores the application of time-stamped energy certificates (also called granular certificates or GCs) in electricity market design and the potential for this to accelerate the deployment of technologies that deliver clean energy when it is most needed.