How it starts?
The concept of the Guarantee of Origin (GO, GoO) was initially introduced back in 2001 by the EU Directive 2001/77/EC on promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market.
However, in April 2009 the meaning of the Guarantee of Origin was further developed and additional provisions were introduced via Article 15 of the European Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (the same DIrective is also known as the Renewables Directive or the RES Directive).
What is the purpose of the Guarantee of Origin?
According to the RES Directive, the Guarantee of Origin is an electronic document which has the sole function to serve as a proof to a final customer that a given share or quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources.
What does a Guarantee of Origin represents?
The RES Directive specifies that a Guarantee of Origin must be equivalent of 1 MWh and should specify at least:
• the energy source from which the energy was produced;
• the start and end dates of production period;
• whether it relates to electricity, heating or cooling;
• the identity, location, type and capacity of the installation where the energy was produced;
• whether and to what extent the installation has benefited from investment subsidies, a national support scheme, or any other type of support scheme;
• the date on which the installation became operational; and
• the date and country of issue and a unique identification number.
Are there eligible energy sources for which a Guarantee of Origin could be issued?
The RES Directive enables the Member States to issue a GO on request of any producer of energy from renewable sources, namely hydro, wind, solar, hydro, biomass, geothermal, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, biogas, aerothermal, hydrothermal and ocean energy.
However, Guarantees of Origin may be and in fact they are already issued in several EU countries for conventional and nuclear power plants. Furthermore, some larger electricity producers have gone so far as to issue GOs for all of their electricity production sources, as a means of proper accounting and responsible information disclosure.
