Green electricity label
| Green electricity label e. V. | |
|---|---|
|
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| purpose | Certification of green electricity and biogas |
| Chair: | Dietmar Oeliger, NABU (Deputy: Marcus Bollmann, BUND; Rosa Hemmers, EUROSOLAR) |
| Executive Director: | Daniel Craffonara |
| Establishment date: | 1998 |
| Number of employees: | 5 |
| Seat : | Kaiserstraße 113, 53113 Bonn |
| Website: | www.gruenerstromlabel.de |
Green electricity label e. V. is an association for the certification of green electricity and biogas . The seat of the association is in Bonn . It was founded in December 1998 on the initiative of Eurosolar . The green electricity label (own spelling: green electricity) was the first such seal in Germany in 1999. In 2013 the green gas seal was introduced.
Both seals of approval are the only ones in Germany that are carried by environmental associations. The aim of certification is to ensure more transparency in the green electricity and biogas market by labeling recommended products and to promote ecological energy supply.
carrier
The association is supported by the following organizations:
- Eurosolar
- Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND)
- Nature Conservation Association Germany (NABU)
- German Nature Conservation Ring (DNR)
- International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (German Section IPPNW)
- Consumer initiative
Green electricity label
According to the catalog of criteria, the following central criteria are basic requirements for certification:
- The electricity must come from 100% renewable sources (from existing or new power plants)
- The electricity provider must support the additional expansion of renewable energies with a fixed amount per kilowatt hour sold. For end customers with one consumption
- up to 10,000 kWh per year: 0.5 cents per kWh
- between 10,000 kWh and 100,000 kWh per year: 0.4 cents per kWh
- between 100,000 kWh and 3,000,000 kWh per year: 0.2 cents per kWh
- from 3,000,000 kWh per year: 0.1 cents per kWh
- Companies that operate nuclear power plants themselves or are directly involved in one do not receive the label.
- Companies that acquire new direct stakes in existing or new coal-fired power plants do not receive the label.
- RECS certificates are not permitted as proof of the delivery obligation.
The majority of the subsidy amounts are used to subsidize or co-finance new eco-power plants that are also subsidized under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), but also those whose electricity is sold directly . Some of the funding can also flow into plants abroad or into energy efficiency measures , as well as into projects that advance the energy transition and the necessary infrastructure. This also includes community energy projects . The electricity suppliers must report on the Internet about the projects they are promoting as part of the certification. In addition, the Grüner Strom Label eV records the completed projects on its website.
Over 70 energy providers offer green electricity that is certified according to the criteria of the Green Electricity Label.
Certification of products
The green electricity label is a product label. This means that individual electricity products are certified with the green electricity label.
In addition to electricity products that are certified with the green electricity label, energy supply companies can also offer non-regenerative electricity products. The providers can have stakes through companies that are themselves operators of nuclear power plants. You can also sell nuclear power (i.e. buy and sell), but you are not allowed to operate nuclear power plants directly. New investments in coal-fired power plants have also not been permitted since 2015 (for example, Regensburger Energie- und Wasserversorgung AG & Co KG , in which E.ON has a stake of around 35%, offers a product labeled as green electricity, but also supplies it Coal and nuclear power.). New investments in coal-fired power plants are also not allowed.
The company must also actively support the expansion of renewable energies in its business policy.
Sales of green electricity certified green electricity
As part of the certification, a good 1.3 terawatt hours of green electricity were delivered to end consumers in 2019 (see Fig. 1). The amount of green electricity that is marketed with the green electricity label increased by around 45% in 2012 compared to 2011.
Fig. 1: Volume of green electricity sold with the green electricity label since 1999 *
x-axis: year; y-axis: sales in kilowatt hours (kWh) | * 2019: preliminary sales figures; 2020: sales forecast
Investments through the green electricity subsidy model
The growing amount of certified electricity leads to increasing investment amounts. Since the start of certification, the electricity providers have invested over 50 million euros in their green electricity products up to and including 2015 (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2: Development of investments since 1999 *
x-axis: year; y-axis: Invested subsidies in euros (€) | * Funding funds must be invested within two years, so there may be fluctuations when looking at the year.
Over 1,400 energy transition projects, such as photovoltaic or wind systems, but also projects in the areas of energy efficiency and e-mobility have been initiated by the green electricity certification model. For example, around 12 million euros in funding were made available in 2017, which allowed 83 energy transition projects to be co-financed. Tab. 1 shows the number of projects funded since 2010.
| year | number | Photovoltaics | Wind energy | Biomass | Hydropower | Energy efficiency | Memory, control | E-mobility | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 72 | 64 | 4th | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | 59 | 39 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4th | 4th |
| 2012 | 56 | 45 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4th |
| 2013 | 53 | 31 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8th |
| 2014 | 77 | 44 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 4th | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 2015 | 105 | 51 | 20th | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4th | 10 | 10 |
| 2016 | 120 | 70 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 8th | 6th | 5 | 18th |
| 2017 | 83 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7th | 19th | 6th | 10 |
* Year-specific information on the number of funding projects and the amount of investments are usually available three years after the funding has been generated: Funding must be invested within two years of receipt and the audit takes place in the following year.
Biogas label green gas
The green gas label was launched in June 2013. The seal of approval is awarded to gas products for which the production, use and sale of the biogas meet the requirements of the catalog of criteria. These include, for example, the following requirements:
- Real biogas - no compensation models.
- The ecologically compatible production of real biogas through the efficient use of available raw materials must be guaranteed.
- The biogas must be produced in an ecologically compatible manner (e.g. valuable habitats must not be converted into monocultures).
- It must be biogas ( biomethane ) from biogenic residues or sewage sludge . Biogas from renewable raw materials (NawaRo) is only recognized under the strictest conditions (currently, in April 2019, no green gas-certified biogas comes from NawaRo).
- Landfill gas is not recognized.
- Use of biogenic residues on site, such as biowaste, kitchen scraps or green waste.
- No manure from factory farming.
- Genetically modified organisms are not allowed in the production.
- Primarily raw materials from the region should be used (raw material transports over 50 kilometers are rated negatively).
- The gas providers must make the product composition transparent (at least 10% certified biogas).
Suppliers, manufacturers and energy providers are checked using a point system. The green gas label is currently the only biogas quality seal that is used by environmental and consumer organizations.
Sales of green gas certified gas
Biogas products have been certified with the label since January 1, 2014. In 2019 over 29,000 consumers purchased biogas in accordance with green gas standards. Total gas sales were around 395,000,000 kWh. On average over the year, 16.7% of total gas sales were biomethane, around 65,900,000 kWh (see Fig. 3 and 4).
Fig. 3: Volume of gas sold with the green gas label since 2014 *
x-axis: year; y-axis: sales in kilowatt hours (kWh) | * 2019: preliminary sales figures; 2020: sales forecast
Fig. 4 Biomethane share of the amount of gas sold with the green gas label since 2014 *
x-axis: year; y-axis: sales in kilowatt hours (kWh) | * 2019: preliminary sales figures; 2020: sales forecast
Green electricity label silver
In addition to the Green Electricity Label, the Green Electricity Label Silver (GSL Silver) existed until January 1, 2015. However, this model will not be pursued any further. The most important difference to the green electricity label was that up to 50% of the electricity could come from combined heat and power (CHP) systems that were powered by fossil fuels and that up to 50% of the subsidies could flow into CHP systems . In the sense of a transitional strategy, CHP plants should be promoted for which there were justified problems with the implementation with renewable energies. With the entry into force of the Green Electricity criteria catalog in 2015, the label, which had not been used for several years, was also formally discontinued.
Web links
- Marktwächter Energie overview: The most important green electricity labels - Consumer Center Lower Saxony
- Need to fix 'green electricity' markets for consumers - umbrella organization of European consumer organizations BEUC
- Interview with Daniel Craffonara from Grüner Strom Label e. V. - Energieinitiative.org
- Official website | About us | Current activity report - Grüner Strom Label eV
- Official website - Grüner Strom Label eV
Individual evidence
- ↑ EnergieVision eV: Activity Report 2012 (Chapter 2, Page 5) ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 218 kB)
- ↑ Grüner Strom Label eV - Independent certification. In: www.gruenerstromlabel.de. Retrieved April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ Grüner Strom Label eV - obtain green electricity. In: www.gruenerstromlabel.de. Retrieved April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ BUND nature conservation municipal utility comparison 2010 (PDF; 73 kB)
- ↑ Annual Report EON 2012 p. 205 ( Memento of the original dated November 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.6 MB)
- ↑ rewario.strom.natur: REWAG. In: www.rewag.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
- ^ Electricity: REWAG. In: www.rewag.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
- ↑ REWAG rewario Strom July 2013 ( memento of the original dated November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 90 kB)
- ↑ a b Grüner Strom Label eV - Catalog of criteria for the Green Gas Label. In: www.gruenerstromlabel.de. Retrieved April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d Grüner Strom Label eV: Information on the Grüner Strom label, April 2019
- ↑ Grüner Strom Label eV - Statistics. (No longer available online.) In: www.gruenerstromlabel.de. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016 ; accessed on April 5, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Grüner Strom Label eV: Information on the Green Gas Label, April 2019
