Temporary Guarantees of Origin

Temporary Guarantees of Origin

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has appointed Statnett as the competent body for issuing guarantees of origin for renewable electricity. Guarantees of origin can be issued to power plants generating electricity from hydropower, wind, waves, tides, geothermal energy, solar energy, landfill gas and biogases.

- I want to give the relevant power producers the opportunity to show that their production is renewable, says Einar Steensnæs, Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

Article 5 in EU's renewables directive 1Directive 2001/77/EC on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market requires Member States to establish a system for issuing guarantees of origin. The renewables directive is not adopted by the EEA-countries, but the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is currently preparing an implementation of the directive in Norway. As part of these preparations, Norway will adopt an indicative target for the consumption of renewable electricity.

A Norwegian temporary system for guarantees of origin will be established now, so that Norwegian power producers can participate in international trade with guarantees of origin. When engaging in international trade with guarantees of origin it is important to have reciprocity of systems, amongst other reasons to maintain control with renewables targets.

Guarantees of origin must be distinguished from green certificates that can be issued under a mandatory market for green certificates. The Ministry is working to establish such a mandatory market.