ar accelerator series – webinar II

Our Asia Accelerator Webinar Series is aimed at demystifying a range of key topics on the renewable energy transition for corporates and supply chains across Asia. We are excited to announce our second webinar focussing on “Unpacking the Complexities of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs)”.

Corporates and supply chains around the world are turning to Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) to demonstrate progress on their renewable energy consumption targets and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. But with multiple EAC systems operating globally, it can be more complex than it first appears.
 
Watch the recording of the webinar as we unpack the complexities of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), providing an overview of the various EAC systems available and deep dive into the benefits and best practices.
 
Key Event Highlights:
 
➤ Introduction to EACs and an overview of EAC systems
➤ Quality criteria, claims and best practices
➤ How to purchase EACs and precautions to take
➤ Reporting renewable energy consumption using EACs under SBTi / RE100 / other sustainability reporting platforms
➤ Case studies from Indonesia and China

Energy Attribute Certificate (EACs)- Webinar – Part 1
Energy Attribute Certificate (EACs)- Webinar – Part 2
Webinar Q&A
Are Indian I-RECs and local RECs equally recognized as an Scope 2 emission reduction mechanisms? What is the advantage/disadvantage of each option?

Yes, Indian RECs are eligible to make claims for the RE consumption. Indian RECs are available only in solar and non-solar types, whereas I-RECs has no such restrictions. I-RECs are generally available at a lower cost. Companies can take decisions as per their needs.

How to ensure 1 project registered in 1 EAC system (iREC) not registered again in another system (TIGR for exmaple)?

Usually, EAC systems take care of this issue.  RE generator should not be able to register the same RE facility at more than one EAC system.  For example – I-REC has a minimum criteria for device registration. Additionally, it’s local issuers may mandate additional information to meet their national compliance or mandatory system purposes (such as national or regional RPS, quota systems or support systems). Third-party verification of production devices is also undertaken by the local issuer.  Please check here for more information. For TIGR project registration, parallel registration in other attribute tracking systems is prohibited and such declaration needs to be made by the registrant. Please check here for more information.

For other EAC systems, it’s recommended to check the eligibility criteria/code/regulations that ensures EAC system takes care of double counting issue or not.   

There is a concern that by buying unbundled EACs, corporates or supply chains avoid their obligation to actually implement measures to drive emission reduction at their facilities. Some even say certain types of EACs are green-washing. What are your thoughts on this?

EACs serve an important role in encouraging the construction of new RE projects as well as continuing to financially support existing RE projects. We need more and more renewable energy capacity to decarbonize the grid. Individual corporate RE procurement decisions can send an important demand signal in the market e.g., if there is a demand for EAC only from newly built RE facility, it sends a signal to build new capacity in that market. Whereas buying from a 30-year-old large hydro project does not send the same signal in the market.   

If a RE generator receives a carbon offset, does this mean there is a risk that the emissions avoided/reduced will be claimed twice - once by the company that purchases the offset certificate and once by the company that purchases the EAC? How is this risk avoided?

EAC and GHG offset/carbon convey different claims.  As per the RE100 technical criteria, making a credible RE usage claim requires ownership of all environmental and social attributes associated with the generation that can be owned, and that none of these attributes have been sold off, transferred, or claimed elsewhere. Further, if separate environmental instruments have already been created for different attributes of power generation (e.g. carbon attributes), attribute aggregation can be achieved by bringing these instruments together – by demonstrating ownership and retirement of all instruments that make up a RE usage claim. Please check more information here.

What are the criteria for "Renewable" (e.g. where does nuclear stand? or forest-products/agricultural biomass)?

Nuclear energy is carbon free electricity (at the generation phase), but it’s not a renewable energy source. Some market provides EACs to Nuclear (e.g. in Japan). It depends on what claims the company want to make; if they want to make claims for the use of RE, they shouldn’t be using EAC issued to the nuclear power generation.  In the case of biomass, sustainably sourced biomass in the power generation process is considered as RE source under RE100/CDP reporting.

What is the significance of timestamps?

To bring forward decarbonization, some advanced companies are looking for RE products which enable them to source green power 24 hours of each day, instead of monthly or yearly. However, currently EAC systems do not provide information on hourly generation. If 1000 MWh of RE is produced in Jan 2022, under the current system, EACs can be used to match with company’s annual electricity consumption in 2022. However, these companies believe that the demand for producing renewables when consumption is actually taking place is important.  

If it is known that a given generating company is (almost) 100% renewable (e.g. local hydro utilities in most of Canada) are its bills considered EACs?
  • In markets where the utility energy mix has 100% RE, companies should be able to make claims on RE consumption using the electricity bills from their supplier. RE100 has a criteria for Default delivered renewable electricity from the grid. Please check more information here.
Can companies purchase EACs and then still use their old fossil fuel energy sources?
  • Companies using fossil fuel-based electricity delivered from the grid can match their consumption with EAC in order to make RE consumption claims. In this arrangement, they continue consuming electricity delivered from the grid but can make RE consumption claims via using EAC. EAC serves as an environmental attribute that enables its users to make RE consumption claims.
Wouldn't the 15-year age limit facility be detrimental to the Offshore Wind that is so capital-intensive?

The RE100 technical criteria require corporate buyers’ procurement of renewable electricity to observe a fifteen-year commissioning or re-powering date limit. This is to encourage companies sourcing RE from newly built capacity in order to bring more RE capacity to the grid for broader grid decarbonization. The underlying principle is if the project is 15 years old, it has already been sustained (economically) and does not need more support.

Can RE generators in China who participate in green electricity trading program choose either to register their EACs via I-REC or GEC?

RE generators in China participating in the green electricity trading program will be issued GECs via the platform.

What is the relationship between carbon credits and RECs? How is conversion factor determined?

Carbon credits and RECs are two different environmental instruments and there are no conversion factors. RECs convey information about the origin of electricity generation and enable exclusive claims by the user to make claims for renewable electricity consumption.

get in touch

Want to know more? Reach out to the team for support in accelerating the corporate renewable energy transition:  contact@actrenewable.net

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