Renewable Energy Green Power Certificate
With the gradual implementation of the national energy strategy, the deepening of economic and social clean development, under the vigorous promotion of various policies, both the green power production side and the consumption side are facing a major opportunity, renewable energy green power certificate (hereinafter referred to as “green certificate”) system.
Green certificates are an important way to promote green and low-carbon energy development.
Renewable energy plays an active role in promoting the transformation of China’s energy structure. China’s power industry carbon emissions account for about 50% of the total emissions, reducing carbon emissions in the power industry is the key to achieve the goal of “2030 carbon peak, 2060 carbon neutral”, the steady development of renewable energy, to promote the transformation of the energy structure of the production side is the inevitable choice of low-carbon, green, clean development of the power industry. With the support of various national policies, China’s renewable energy industry is developing rapidly. By the end of December 2021, the installed power generation capacity of renewable energy reached 1.063 billion kilowatts, and the power generation capacity continued to grow, reaching 2.48 trillion kilowatt hours in 2021, playing an active role in promoting the transformation of China’s energy structure.
Green certificate is an important mechanism to play the environmental value to support the development of renewable energy. As the whole society’s awareness of green power consumption is rising, the proportion and source of green power consumed by users needs to be proved by scientific measurement methods and authoritative institutions. In order to guarantee the traceability of the environmental attributes of green power, green power certificates are usually used internationally as a way to prove green power consumption, with 1 green certificate corresponding to 1000 kWh of electricity. As an independent green power metering tool and green power environmental value trading carrier, green certificates have been operating internationally for many years and are mainly divided into two markets: mandatory and voluntary.
The mandatory market takes the renewable energy quota system as the supporting policy of green certificates, and makes mandatory regulations on the market share of renewable energy power through laws and regulations. The government issues green certificates to renewable energy power generation enterprises in quantities corresponding to their feed-in tariffs, and quota obligation subjects can purchase green certificates from power generation enterprises to prove the completion of quota targets in order to achieve the purpose of increasing the proportion of renewable energy utilization. The UK, Australia, Sweden, Japan, Korea and more than 20 other countries, as well as 29 US states and Washington DC have implemented quota system policies. International experience shows that quota system and green certificate trading is one of the important means to promote the sustainable and healthy development of renewable energy industry.
In addition to the mandatory trading of green certificates, individuals and enterprises with financial ability and awareness of environmental protection can purchase green certificates in a voluntary manner to support the development of renewable energy. To date, more than 300 companies worldwide have committed to using 100% renewable energy power in the future.
Green certificates are an important force in delivering the environmental value of new energy and supporting the construction of new power systems. New energy power has the dual attributes of physical power and green environmental value. In the face of multiple economic pressures, green certificates will become a key factor in providing positive value incentives for new energy power generation and ensuring the sustainable development of the industry, thus strongly supporting the construction of a new power system based on new energy.
The overall smooth and orderly trading of green certificates. China has launched voluntary green certificate trading since 2017, and clearly established a mandatory green certificate trading market in due course. According to the requirements of the documents issued by the competent industry departments, the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center, as a third-party institution, builds and runs the national green certificate subscription trading platform, and is also responsible for the issuance of green certificates and the organization of transactions in China. At present, it has initially promoted the formation of a better consensus of green power consumption in the whole society.
From the type of green certificates, China’s green certificates mainly include subsidized green certificates and non-subsidized green certificates. The scope of subsidized green certificates issued for onshore wind power and photovoltaic power plant projects included in the national subsidy list; unsubsidized green certificates issued for parity (low price) onshore wind power and photovoltaic power generation projects, as well as renewable energy power generation projects that exceed the number of reasonable utilization hours over the whole life cycle or reach the age of subsidies. By the end of July 2022, the cumulative number of subsidized green certificates issued nationwide was about 34.21 million, and the cumulative number of subscriptions was about 79,000. The national unsubsidized green certificate issuance process was officially launched in May 2021, and by the end of July 2022, the cumulative number of unsubsidized green certificates issued was about 11.39 million, and the cumulative number of subscriptions was about 1.97 million.
International renewable energy 100% consumption plan organization (RE100), green peace international non-profit organizations continue to advocate green low-carbon development, in addition to the green certificate mandatory market, voluntary subscription of green certificates to enhance the level of green electricity consumption has become an important trend. China’s green certificates have achieved mutual recognition with RE100 in early 2020, forming a certain influence in the international market.
The current green certificate issuance and trading system has achieved effective connection with the green power trading pilot, according to the green power trading settlement data batch issuance of green certificates to Beijing and Guangzhou power trading center. By the end of July 2022, more than 1.08 million green certificates corresponding to green power trading have been issued.
