Norwegian companies fear that investments will be threatened if they have to buy guarantees of origin to prove they are using green electricity. The entire scheme should be scrapped, says Inovyn Nils president Eirik Stamland.
This is the Inovyn plant in Ravnes in Pample, where the company produces chlorine and plastic raw materials. The company fears that competitiveness will be affected due to the increasing demands for purchasing guarantees of origin to document its electricity consumption in green.
Norwegian energy producers earn up to 2 billion kroner annually from the sale Origin guaranteesEspecially for foreign electricity customers.
Energy companies have been selling such guarantees for many years, but so is the system disputed in Norway. This means that consumers in other countries can buy the value of zero-emission Norwegian hydroelectricity, while Norwegian electricity customers take charge of the significant emissions in the European energy system if they do not buy guarantees.
The trade in collateral is completely separate from the physical trade in electricity between Norway and neighboring countries. Norwegian electricity is 97 percent renewable. However, Norwegian electricity customers have no guarantees of origin with responsibility for the energy mix with 59 percent fossil heat, 30 percent nuclear and only 11 percent renewable, According to NVE.
Companies in Europe that buy guarantees of origin can document in their climate reports that they have paid for renewable Norwegian hydropower, even though this energy does not actually come from their intakes.
Critics believe that Norway’s green power is sold twice. At the same time that they sell the green value of Norwegian energy to European electricity customers, Norwegian industrial companies are marketing themselves using renewable electricity, without buying guarantees of origin.
– fundamentally changed
So far, many customers have agreed that Norwegian electricity is environmentally friendly. But that is about to change, says Nils Eric Stammland, who heads Inovyn’s Norway operations.
– What has changed is that the whole world is starting to get preoccupied with this matter. So far, customers haven’t discovered or cared about that the same energy is being marketed as twice as green, Stammland tells E24.
He believes that customers will increasingly require the industry to document that electricity consumption is environmentally friendly by purchasing guarantees of origin, but fears the additional bill for such guarantees threatens one of the industry’s key competitive advantages.
– There will be a completely different pressure on this. So, the situation has changed drastically, and if we don’t wake up now, I’m afraid this will be a serious challenge for Norwegian businesses, he says.
Nils Eric Stammland is the head of Inovyn’s operations in Norway.
– It should be cancelled
Inovyn is owned by the British petrochemical company Ineos, and the two companies have a total of 650 employees in Norway. Inovyn produces chlorine and vinyl chloride in Ravens in Bamble and plastics (PVC, PVC) in Bursgörn and, according to Stammland, has invested more than 1 billion kroner in the past four years.
The company’s energy consumption is 1.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year.
– If we had to buy guarantees of origin, there wouldn’t be much to say today. But Stammland says the price of guarantees of origin will rise sharply if Norwegian companies are forced to buy them.
– I think the whole scheme should be scrapped. And if that’s not possible, we should at least sell certificates that follow the physical flow, he says.
Today, the Norwegian energy industry issues guarantees of origin that correspond to the majority of Norway’s energy production of 150 TWh in a typical year, although only a fraction of this energy is actually exported.
The feud between the NHO . unions
Norwegian industry is “increasingly requiring customers to document their carbon footprints,” according to A A common platform for energy and industrial policy Several LO and NHO unions have also agreed on this year.
Many contracting partners have criticized the origin guarantee system. However, NHO Energi Norge, which represents the energy industry, wanted to keep the scheme.
The Norwegian industry and oil and gas organizations Nelfo, LO, EL-og IT Forbundet, Industri Energi and Fellesforbundet believe that guarantees of origin undermine competitiveness and the opportunity to secure green new jobs.
Like Stamland, they believe that the export of guarantees of origin should be limited to energy that is actually exported from Norway.
– Very strange
MP Terje Lien Aasland (Labour) also fears that increasing demand from customers for the industry to purchase guarantees of origin may threaten the ability to create new jobs in the industry.
– As I understand it, many players in the industry fear that they will have to start buying guarantees of origin. This is an extra push for renewable energy, Aasland tells E24, which is very strange.
He believes that industry profits, competitiveness and attractiveness could be affected if Norwegian companies are forced to buy guarantees that the electricity is renewable, just like European competitors.
– We think the industry shouldn’t have to wash down the already green input factor by having to buy guarantees of origin, says Aasland.
He wants to find out how the industry can avoid paying such guarantees. If this is not possible, the Labor Party opens up to cancel the entire scheme.
There is some discussion about whether it is possible to release product announcements that meet the needs of the industry, or whether we should scrap the entire scheme. As he says, we will address this issue if we win the election.
Even the actors themselves
The government indicates to E24 that they have obtained NVE to make one Special Product Ad For the electricity that is actually delivered, which the industry can refer to when marketing to customers.
The Climate Declaration is published annually and can be used by industry and others to calculate the climate footprint of their electricity consumption, Secretary of State Tony C. Teller at the Department of Petroleum and Energy wrote in an email.
refers to it Climatic declaration of physically supplied electricity It shows that electricity consumption in Norway in 2020 was 97 percent renewable and that the climate footprint was only eight grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour.
He points out that the Norwegian industry is not obligated to use guarantees of origin to document its electricity consumption, and therefore no additional cost is required.
How different market players, including industry customers, choose to relate to warranties of origin is up to the players themselves, Tyler writes.
Toini Løvseth is the Energy Market Manager at Energi Norge.
The energy industry will expand the scheme
Energi Norge reports that guarantees of origin contribute between 1 and 2 billion NOK to energy companies annually. The organization prefers to enhance and expand the scheme rather than cancel it.
– This is a common European documentation standard that shows the possibility of renewing corporate purchases of electricity. Many companies use it for energy agreements and sustainability accounts, because it is required by customers, Toini Løvseth, Energy Market Director at Energy Norway, wrote in an email to E24.
– Both battery manufacturers such as Freyr and data centers such as Green Mountain in Norway purchase such documentation. The European Union has expanded the scheme to also include hydrogen, biogas and district heating, so it is suitable for more and more industries, she writes.
– What do you think would happen if Norway left this scheme, as the Labor Party allows?
– Norway cannot set special Norwegian standards, then we create problems for both industry and energy producers. Loveseth writes that any changes must be made through the revision of the Renewables Directive currently underway in the European Union, so that we reserve one common solution for the whole of Europe.
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