| dc.description.abstract | The Renewable Energy Directive 2001/77/EC (2001) introduced a system of Guarantees of
Origin (GOs) to be able to track the renewable electricity consumption in Europe. By
purchasing a GO which is an electronic certificate, 1 MWh of electricity can be claimed as
being from a renewable source. The purchase of GOs was made mandatory for any renewable
claim in the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (December 2018).
The ultimate goal of this Master’s Thesis was to identify the impacts of GOs on the electricity
value chain, composed of five activities associated: electricity production, transmission,
distribution, trading and consumption. In order to identify the impacts, this Master’s Thesis
constructed beforehand a knowledge base necessary to understand the GO system. Broadly
speaking, the European Directives relevant to the GO system were analyzed, relevant published
academic research was reviewed, the practical use of the GOs in electricity tracking was
investigated and the GO market was described. In addition, the differences that prevail in the
implementation and the use of this system among the Member States were identified and
outlined by providing a comparison between Norway and Germany.
The literature review, other reliable online sources and a number of semi-structured interviews
with practitioners and renewable energy experts led to several findings. First, dealing with GOs
has become an extra task for the agents along the electricity value chain: the eligible electricity
producers receive and resell the GOs, the Transmission System Operator is in some cases
assigned as the Competent Body for GOs and electricity retailers have to purchase GOs to back
the electricity they sell to the customers asking for renewable electricity. Secondly, unlike the
wholesale electric power that has a single price, many types of GOs exist and are priced
differently depending on various characteristics (renewable energy source, location, age of the
power plant, etc.). Additional revenues provided by GOs to power producers and traders are
therefore largely varying and difficult to assess for the following reasons: (i) it depends on the
GOs’ characteristics, (ii) GO prices are very volatile and (iii) GO prices are not transparent to
market outsiders. The price paid by end-consumers for GOs is also difficult to estimate because
prices are not transparent to them and the GOs are often included in products offering additional
specificities, such as eco-labels for example. Thirdly, it was found that in today’s market the
impact of GOs on renewable investments is very limited due to their low price and to the fact
that renewable investments are triggered by governmental subsidies which are substantially
higher than the GO prices. Finally, regarding Norway and Germany, the major differences
identified are the issuing rules which impact a lot the volume of GOs traded in these countries
and in the market in general. The demand for GOs is also substantially different in the two
countries. | nb_NO |
