☑️ Why Do We Need Granular Certificates?
Today, we face the challenge of ineffective clean energy claims as consumption is matched to production annual and often from places where electricity cannot even be delivered. Granular Certificates (i.e GCs or T-EACs), revolutionize energy certificates by telling us the time of production, enabling matching of consumption with clean power production by the hour.
This is next frontier of clean energy sourcing and will be enabled by time-stamped Granular Certificates. Robust empirical research from the International Energy Agency, Princeton University, and MIT supports this approach and its various benefits:
Enables consumers to drive deep decarbonization of the grid – every hour.
Enables the production of clean products, like hydrogen, without any fossil reliance.
Provides more transparency by linking production to consumption in ‘real-time’.
Supports storage and flexibility by providing a new price signal.
Facilitates better risk management by avoiding volatile fossil-based electricity pricing.
The illustration below shows us how much more transparent GCs are.
Refer to Granular Accounting in GHG Protocol and EnergyTag’s Blog on the Feasibility of Granular Certificates for detailed explanation of the problem and its solution.
☑️ How Granular Certificates Work?
Granular Certification Scheme
The figure above shows the overview of all the roles for the Granular Certificate Scheme under the EnergyTag Scheme Standard. The process of energy flows physically from Producer to Consumer and data flow from GC issuer/Consumer to Matcher to Claim verifier is self-explanatory in the figure above.
Definitions of Roles
Producer: The owner of a Production Device which is valid for GC Issuance.
Granular Certificate Issuer (GC Issuer): A Granular Certificate Issuer is an organization responsible for the administration of the Granular Certificates within a Domain for an Energy Carrier, ensuring the avoidance of Double Counting of the Attributes represented by the Granular Certificates it administers throughout their lifetime.
Consumer: The final beneficiary of GC/EAC cancellation and potentially the user of associated consumed energy.
GC Matcher (or GC-Consumption Matcher) (or Matcher): An organization that matches the Attributes of canceled GCs to a specific quantity of energy consumption of a specific Consumer/Supplier, with a view to determining the content of a GC Matching Claim.
Claim Verifier (or GC Claim Verifier): An organization checking that Granular Certificates (GCs) are canceled against the energy consumption measured at one or a group of multiple Consumption Points in compliance with the Matching rules in this standard and the guidelines in the GC Use Case Guidelines.
Who Needs to Use Which Standard?
Configurations for Granular Certificate Issuance
It is crucial to have a robust mechanism for involving GC issuance and cancellation from the present EAC Market. GC issuance is either offered by an existing EAC Issuer (“Config 1”) or 3rd party based on underlying EACs (“Config 2 or 3”).
EnergyTag Configurations Overview
Configuration #1 - GC Scheme evolves out of EAC Scheme: the GC Scheme is an evolution of an existing EAC Scheme such that the currently operating EAC Issuing Body evolves into a GC Issuer,
Configuration #2 - GC Scheme supplements EAC Scheme: the GC Scheme is an extension of an existing EAC Scheme and is managed by verified and approved third parties. Tasks and responsibilities related to the GC Scheme are performed by third-party entities in compliance with the rules and oversight of the existing EAC Scheme and EAC Issuing Body.
Configuration #3 - GC Scheme is based on Canceled EACs: this GC Scheme enables GC Issuance where the EAC Issuing body does not oversee the coordination with GCs for the same production. Instead, the GC Issuer takes such coordination upon itself. This involves canceling GCs upon their Issuance, for the same beneficiary as the beneficiary of the associated EACs for the same represented energy.
Crucial Attributes of Granular Certificates
List of Crucial Attributes (Spreadsheet Here)
Energy Carrier: Always electricity.
Unique Identification Number.
Date of Operationalization: Date when the Production Device became operational.
Production/Storage Discharge Interval: Maximum one-hour interval.
GC Issuance Date-Stamp.
Source of Produced Energy.
Technology Used: Technology used to produce energy.
Production Device Name.
Unique ID of Production Device (if available).
Capacity of Production Device.
Country/Region of Issuance.
Geographical Location of Production/Storage System:
Zip Code/Postcode,
Street,
City and Country,
GPS Coordinates (shall be stated where available).
Base Unit: Wh (not kWh, MWh, etc.).
Energy Production Volume: Face value of the certificate rounded down to the nearest whole number in Wh.
Identity of GC Issuer.
Issued from Production or Released from Storage.
Consumer Information:
Whether it can be used to inform consumers of the origin of the energy they consume (Disclosure).
Energy Carrier Status:
Whether it has been issued following Energy Carrier conversion or release from energy storage.
GC Configuration:
Configuration the GC is issued (Config-1, Config-2, or Config-3).
Matching and Claiming Granular Certificates
GC Matching Standard deals with the procedure to be followed for matching consumption with production and then enabling matching claims based on issued GCs. Standard also describes the roles and responsibilities of the Matcher and Claim Verifier.
The figure below shows the process of matching and claiming to be followed for making claims EnergyTag Compliant.
Matching and Claim Verification Explained
GC Matching (or Granular Matching or Matching): Allocating Attributes of canceled GCs to a corresponding quantity of consumed energy, for well-specified Matching Features.
Temporal Matching (or GC Temporal Matching: Associating the period of time during which energy is produced or stored and which has been recorded on the GC at its Issuance with the corresponding time at which the GC is canceled and the energy is consumed. The time interval is equal to or less than 60 minutes and evidence of energy production and consumption is provided by GCs.
Geographical Matching (or GC Geographical Matching): Associating the geographical location of energy production or storage which has been recorded on a GC at its Issuance, with the geographical location of energy consumption and for which the GC is canceled. For example, Geographical Matching may take place within physically interconnected zone(s) or Bidding Zone(s).
GC Matching Claim (or Matching Claim): A statement by a Consumer or Supplier of energy regarding the proportion of their consumption being matched to GCs, and the resulting Attributes allocated to this consumption.
☑️ Implementation of Granular Certificates
For a robust implementation of Granular Certificates, please refer to the EnergyTag GC Scheme and Matching Standard.
Before diving deep into the Standards, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the Table of Contents presented below.
Scheme Standard Outline
Matching Standard Outline