Guarantees of Origin

EU guideline 2009/28/EC on trading of Guarantees of Origin

According to the EU guideline 2009/28/EC, all European Union member states are required to establish a national registry for Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) for electricity from renewable energy sources. GoOs are certificates that prove that one MWh of electricity was produced using renewable energy sources. GoOs are exclusively issued for disclosure and transparency purposes.

Among others, all European GoOs provide information on:

• The energy source and technology used.
• The location of the power plant, its size and the date on which it started its operations.
• Whether the power plant received any support – and if so, what kind.

In order to use GoOs for disclosure purposes a valid certificate must be cancelled. By means of this step, a utility can prove (beyond doubt) that a specific volume of electricity, measured in MWh, has been generated using renewable energy sources. All European GoOs have a twelve-month lifetime, i.e. they are no longer valid later than twelve months after their production. If a GoO is not cancelled during its twelve-month lifetime, it can no longer be used for disclosure purposes or be transferred.

European GoOs are tradable certificates and can be used in any EU member state (plus Norway and Switzerland) that has implemented the above mentioned guideline. However, at the current time, not all member states have implemented a GoO registry. GoOs are internationally transferable via a hub run by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB).  

Advantages of trading in GoO on EEX

Trading in Guarantees of Origin (GoO) for green power on organised markets is still in its infancy. EEX helps to develop this new European market and, as a result, it hopes to make a contribution to increased transparency on the green power market. Standardised trading in Guarantees of Origin supports the market integration of renewable energies and creates new marketing opportunities for plant operators.

• Transparent, standardised and secure products in line with EU requirements
• Bundling liquidity and non-discriminatory access to a large number of traders from all over Europe  
• Full price transparency and creation of a reference price for Guarantees of Origin
• Participation in a European market and safe, border-crossing settlement using the Grexel account at ECC
• At a cost of EUR 0.0085 per MWh per GoO for exchange trading and clearing, a highly cost-effective trading and settlement process is made available
• No membership fees will be charged in the first year for new customers registering
  for trading in GoOs

At a glance

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