Renewable Energy Certificate System

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The Renewable Energy Certificate System ( English for 'certification system for renewable energies'), short REC-System or RECS , is a certification system for proof of origin for electricity from renewable energies in 15 European countries, which was introduced in 2002. The REC system will be discontinued by 2016 [out of date] and will be replaced by the EECS GoO system (also known as the GO system) ( Guarantee of Origin ), which has already been implemented in most European countries . The EECS-GoO system is based on the implementation of Directive 2009/28 / EC of the European Parliament of April 23, 2009.

Every electricity from renewable energies has an ideal added value from a market strategy point of view. This can be split off from the physical electricity in the RECS by its generator and given to an international market in the form of freely convertible certificates . The RECS thus represents a certification system of the same quantity , which is separate from the actual provision of electricity over time.

While the emissions trading approach incurs additional costs, RECS tries to make the ideal added value of renewable energies accessible by means of an additional trading platform.

Structure of the RECS

structure

The RECS is administered at regional level by independent Issuing Bodies (IB), which are responsible for issuing and invalidating the certificates. The individual IBs are in turn united to form the international Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB). In December 2002, RECS members founded RECS International , an association under Belgian law, which is intended to protect the interests of the members and to further develop the RECS in cooperation with the AIB.

RECS International currently has over 200 members from 25 mainly European countries, RECS Germany eV currently has 39 members, mainly large and medium-sized companies from the energy industry. There are 14 members in Switzerland and 5 in Austria, almost all of them energy companies. (As of February 2010).

At the beginning of 2000, a two-year test phase was started in Germany , Finland and Sweden , during which around 14 million certificates were traded. In 2002 the system was expanded to a total of 15 countries. The German members of RECS International founded the association RECS Deutschland eV on February 12, 2003 in Hamburg. At the annual general meeting of RECS Deutschland eV on March 14, 2013 in Berlin, the members resolved to dissolve the association on December 31, 2013.

The German issuing body is the Öko-Institut , which works with various TÜVs as production registrars for checking production facilities and as auditing bodies. The Federal Environment Agency has also been a member of the AIB since July 2013 , as from the 2013 production year the UBA is responsible for all certificates from renewable electricity production with a new register (the certificate of origin register). In 2013, the register of the Öko-Institut and the UBA were operated in parallel, since 2014 only the UBA's HKNR has existed.

The certificates issued by the issuing bodies receive an individual number, information on the source of the electricity production, specifying the form of production, information on the country of production and the domain in which the electricity was produced, a label for an existing public subsidy, information on the issuing issuer Body or its agent as well as month and year of issue of the RECS certificate.

In addition to RECS certificates, there are also EECS GoOs, which only differ in their legal status. The same technical infrastructure is used for both systems, management is the responsibility of the AIB, but EECS-GoO is based on EU directives and national legislation.

trade

Principle of RECS trading

Generators of renewable energies who want their systems to be included in the RECS must have a Renewable Energy Declaration (RED) issued by an independent expert , whereupon the issuing body will include the system in the national RECS registry. The producers can then transfer the RECS certificates received to other market participants, e.g. B. Stadtwerke, sell. They sell that amount of electricity as renewable energy for which they have acquired certificates. Sales are recorded by the issuing body in the registry.

With the RECS, customers who purchase green electricity through their collective bargaining agreement receive a guarantee that somewhere in Europe the annual amount of electricity they purchase in kWh will be produced from renewable sources. With the RECS, there is no obligation to build regenerative systems.

outlook

A significant proportion of the renewable electrical energy available today is generated using hydropower. This share is currently much higher than the share of green electricity demanded by customers. As long as this demand does not increase, the price for the RECS certificates remains low, so that every provider can offer every customer renewable electricity without significant additional costs. As a result, these certificates currently do not create any incentive to expand the share of renewable energies.

From the customer's point of view, this only means a calculated shift in electricity from renewable energies from normal customers to green electricity customers. On the other hand, consumers who obtain their electricity from energy suppliers with many renewable sources can find themselves in the situation where their personal electricity mix is ​​significantly less renewable than assumed. This is the case when the RU sells the certificates to other producers. Despite electricity labeling , RECS offers energy providers the option of disguising this relabelling. (see section Criticism).

In order for the RECS to have an impact on generation capacities, the traded certificates must have a significant price. This can be made possible on the one hand by increased demand from customers and on the other hand by a shortage of certificates (for example the withdrawal of certificates from certain forms of generation or plant types).

Energy types

The RECS-certifiable systems include wind power systems , hydropower plants , solar systems or systems for the combustion of biomass . Systems that are remunerated in accordance with the Renewable Energy Sources Act are excluded from RECS trading.

RECs in the US

In the US, RECs can also be awarded for power generation from other types of energy. Possible forms of production here are:

RECs are awarded in the USA by the companies Green-e and the non-profit organization The Climate Neutral Network .

criticism

RECS electricity not equal to "green electricity"

One of the main criticisms of companies that sell RECS-certified electricity is that “ green electricity ” is often used in connection with RECS and even electricity providers refer to this electricity as green electricity. This also applies to EECS products. The term “ renewable energy ” should be used here correctly , because the “RECS is not a green electricity label” in the sense that the term “green electricity” implies an additional ecological benefit compared to “ordinary” electricity. The RECS organization itself formulates a clear distinction here:

“The RECS system does not certify green electricity products and is not a green electricity label. The RECS system itself, apart from the fact that certificates can only be issued for renewable energies, as a verification system for the production of renewable energies in general does not place any further requirements on the generation plants; neither on the age of the system nor on ecological requirements. "

In particular, the age of the system and special ecological requirements, such as the protection of the surrounding nature, are not taken into account. If the ecological value is then emphasized through appropriate marketing, these methods can be assigned to greenwashing .

The fact that RECS certificates are effectively equated with other green electricity certificates of origin in the end consumer market allows RECS-certified electricity providers to market so-called "green electricity" without having to physically purchase it and feed it in at the same time as consumption.

The corresponding, consequently controlled, qualitative devaluation of the RECS electricity compared to other, higher quality certificates of green electricity does not take place in the respective local markets. For the end consumer in particular, the quality differences between the RECS certificates and the green electricity criteria of other labels are not clear. Nevertheless, according to information from the executing agency, the system is intended to promote the expansion of renewable energies in Europe.

Little effect on regenerative energy production

The RECS is criticized by consumer advocates and energy experts because the provider of regenerative electricity currently only receives approx. 0.015-0.2 cents per kilowatt hour in addition to the market price on the electricity exchange, which means only a very small incentive to expand this form of energy. The customer gets the wrong impression that he can effectively promote regenerative energy via RECS without paying accordingly.

Concealment of the origin of the electricity

Another point of criticism concerns the declaration of the electricity generated by the certificate seller. This may no longer be sold as electricity generated from renewable sources, since the guarantees of origin from this production were marketed separately. The rules of the VDEW guideline on electricity labeling must now be applied to electricity that was initially “non-characteristic”. These stipulate that the buyer of the RECS certificates must notify the seller of his composition or his specific electricity identification in exchange for the purchased certificates. In other words, the physical electricity then, by definition, has the same composition as the electricity used by the certificate buyer. If, for example, an electricity supplier buys RECS certificates in order to label 1,000 kWh of its specific electricity mix as green electricity, the certificate seller must declare this amount of electricity in the same way as the buyer would have had to declare without the certificate purchase. This system gives the certificate seller the option of disguising the “new” origin of his electricity. On the electricity exchange, electricity is labeled as "gray electricity" with "unknown origin" with the properties of the European electricity mix ( UCTE ). It is not possible to verify whether coal, nuclear or other types of electricity have been relabelled as green electricity using certificates . At the same time, the seller can still sell his electricity, which is now "non-characteristic", with a UCTE specification instead of, for example, a 100% nuclear electricity label.

No expansion of renewable energy generation

RECS only supports the expansion of renewable energy generation until the explicit demand is met. Beyond that there is no further incentive for a sustainable energy supply. Rather, RECS enables electricity providers without their own renewable capacities to continue to sell their electricity, but now with a renewable certificate of origin. The capacity of existing hydropower plants is more than sufficient to meet demand.

Double marketing

Sellers of RECS certificates allegedly do not adhere to the requirement to inform their electricity customers after they have sold a certificate that they no longer have the right to designate their electricity as green electricity.

Recommendation from environmental organizations

Environmental and consumer protection organizations recommend that when choosing a green electricity provider, you should pay attention to the promises that the provider makes with the green electricity offer. Most providers mark the quality of their electricity by using seals of approval, such as B. the ok-power label , the green electricity label or various TÜV badges.

In Germany, Greenpeace Energy and Naturstrom AG , among others, do not use RECS certificates, Lichtblick and EWS use them “only as a technical verification system, ie as a register”. The providers awarded the Green Power Label (e.g. Naturstrom AG ) are not allowed to use RECS certificates, while the ok-power label (Lichtblick, Naturenergie , Vattenfall , Stadtwerke ) allows RECS certificates - the Öko-Institut , the German Issuing body for RECS certificates is one of the three founding members of the ok-power label. RECS certificates are also permitted for the TÜV Süd quality seals under certain conditions. Various green electricity comparison calculators show the energy mix of the electricity providers as well as the different green electricity certifications.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c according to the official RECS Germany homepage , last accessed on March 23, 2011
  2. ↑ a b Experience and outlook RECS Germany
  3. ↑ a b Objectives of RECS Germany eV 12/2002
  4. ↑ a b RECS RECS Germany
  5. ^ Description EECS (PDF; 53 kB) RECS Germany
  6. ↑ How does the system work? RECS Germany
  7. ↑ Difference between RECS certificates and green electricity labels. on: recs-deutschland.de
  8. ↑ [1] 7/2013
  9. ↑ [2]
  10. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated August 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.123energie.de
  11. ↑ Care-Energy claims that EECS-certified electricity is green electricity. [3]
  12. ↑ [4] Dominik Seebach from the Öko-Institut in an interview with check24.de
  13. ↑ EEX Future Guarantees of Origin FEC ( Memento of the original dated June 26, 2015 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. Current trading prices for EECS-GoO on EEX @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / cdn.eex.com
  14. ↑ Guide to electricity labeling
  15. ↑ BDEW guideline “Power Labeling”; Status: August 2012; Chapter 6.2.4 (Electricity of unknown origin) and 6.8.4 (Electricity exchange) ( Memento of the original from February 14, 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; 1.3 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bdew.de
  16. ^ "Label fraud with green electricity" - criticism of trade in environmental certificates ( memento from February 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau, January 5, 2008
  17. ↑ "Wrong general suspicion about green electricity - Greenpeace Energy boss Robert Werner rejects controversial RECS certificates" - Greenpeace, January 6, 2008
  18. ↑ NATURSTROM on the subject of RECS certificates
  19. ↑ "Certificates are patient - RECS certificates can turn nuclear and coal-fired electricity green, but real green electricity also counts" Umwelt aktuell 03/2008