Green certifications gave a lot of extra power

the last one Quarterly Report From the NVE states that the energy production that complies with certification in Norway is 19.1 TWh.

Annual consumption in Oslo for comparison About 9 TWh quarterly.

Since the deadline to build the electricity certification scheme expires early in the year, this is sort of a decision to gain green certification.

– This shows that the Norwegian-Swedish electricity certificate market has been an effective tool, says Evind Heloy, aHe is Director of Renewable Energy at Norwegian Energy.

The planned target was 13.2 TWh.

– The electrical certification system has been a success. Without these 19 terawatt hours, the price of electricity in Norway would have been higher, says Jon Evang Responsible for Energy at Zero Environmental Foundation.

Electricity certificate, you said? step back.

On June 29, 2011, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe (Sp) and colleague Maud Olofsson signed a Norwegian-Swedish agreement that would secure “hundreds of wind power plants” and make it more profitable to invest in renewables such as water, wind, solar and bioenergy.

Day “Green Certificates” It is financed by electricity customers who pay an additional cost to energy suppliers on their electricity bill.

The goal was to achieve 46.4 TWh of new energy by 2030. Of this, Norwegian electricity customers had to finance 13.2 TWh, while the Swedes had to take the rest. Figures from NVE show that the scheme to date has cost Norwegian electricity customers NOK 10.3 billion.

green certificates

Electricity certificates, also called green certificates, are a subsidy scheme for energy produced from renewable energy sources.
Planned electricity customers are funded on their electricity bill through energy providers by adding the cost of the electricity certificate to the price of the electricity.
Until 2020, Sweden and Norway will increase energy production based on renewable energy sources by 28.4 TWh.
The purpose is to make the investment in energy production based on renewable energy sources, such as water, wind, solar and bioenergy, more profitable. This system is regulated in the Electricity Certificates Law and the Electricity Certificates Regulations.
NVE operates the electricity certification scheme in Norway.
Source: Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy, NVE.

– I regret the most

But the scheme was controversial. A report from 2012 was given the expressive name «Green certificate, animals and pointless fun».

One of the programme’s maternity aides, former Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Environment, Heidi Sorensen (SV), stated that green certificates are what ‘Sorry more than anything’ Who says time in politics.

– The green certificate scheme is practically a subsidy for serious damages of a Norwegian nature, And therefore ho joined NRK in 2012.

In addition, the price of the certificate collapsed due to the energy newspaper Europower pointing to “huge superstructure” The cost of developing wind energy has decreased in line with technological development. Today, certification costs around 2 SEK/MWh. At the most expensive, it amounted to almost 400 crowns.

In total, it was therefore decided to cancel the certificates earlier than planned by end of 2021 instead of 2030.

A modification that in turn led to a “battle against the clock” in the wind power industry, which was able to meet the deadline.

Green relief also created one “fairy tale” in the small energy industry.

In 2013 and 2017 – often referred to as the “small power boom” – 859 small power plant applications were handled by NVE.

– Got the ketchup effect

Tor Reier Lilleholt, Volue Insight

The certification system was very important from the start as it was crucial to make investments in the early years. Without this scheme, significant delays in the development of new renewable energy in Norway would have been possible. In the early years, these certificates were of great value in that all the energy produced received a boost, but now with the end of the period the value is almost zero.

When there has been a progressively higher price level in the energy market at the same time that technology development has led to investment costs for example. The wind turbines fell off sharply, so you had the ketchup effect that this was profitable without the backing. In other words, the level of price strength we saw in the market was sufficient by itself to make positive investment decisions. This is a huge catalyst in all financial models. Therefore, the development has also become much larger than the established share in the electricity certification market. The reason for this is that you can build more than quota with profitable projects. Investors had good opportunities to enter into so-called PPA contracts or Norwegian PPAs where they could sell portions of the energy they expected to produce for the next 10 or 15 years to buyers who wanted a link to new renewable production for their consumption.

Therefore, it can probably be argued that this certification scheme was a very important catalyst for fulfilling our commitments to increase our renewable production and that along the way this system has become virtually unnecessary and unnecessary for the further development of wind and geo-hydropower.

The next round may be to ensure offshore wind construction begins in Norway. It will be interesting to see if you have to get similar subsidies initially to start the process early enough because over time Norway has been priced much lower than other regions in Europe, which is already going on with this development.

Marius Holm Renesend, Theme

– It must be said that the electricity certification system has been a huge success if one takes the viewpoint of the government and consumers. The scheme has made us more powerful than intended and at very low prices. Due to significant overinvestment, the electricity certificate market price has collapsed and we expect prices close to zero for the rest of the life of the scheme. The excessive investment is due to the fact that we have made strong technical progress which has brought the cost of wind energy down to levels where you get profitability in projects without income from electricity certificates. However, it is those who invested early in this market that come out worse by investing in relatively poorer/expensive technologies, thus struggling for profitability when electricity certificate prices have fallen to such low levels.

– Solid benefits for society

Parallel to the criticism, the testimonies also had supporters.

– The scheme contributed to the development of technology so that wind power on Earth can now be built without subsidies. It provides powerful benefits to society in the form of affordable electricity in the coming years, says Robert Kibe, Director of Communications at Nooria.

Knut Lockert is a daily leader in Distriktsenergi, a national interest organization for Norwegian energy companies.

– The scheme has been a success in the sense that the energy production target was reached well before the deadline, at a low price for electricity customers, he says.

NRK previously reported that eight wind turbines were commissioned in 2021, which together produce 1.7 TWh. In addition, 53 new small hydropower plants were registered, which together produce 0.7 TWh.

Not all of these certifications are yet certified, so the overall volume may increase.