UK company Smartest Energy presented a paper at today's RECS-led UK Rego Day seminar in London, calling for urgent reform of the electricity certification scheme to support decarbonisation goals.
Smartest Energy is calling for a shift to full production and consumption disclosure, with generators receiving a certificate of origin for every MWh they send into the grid — regardless of the fuel source. This would allow renewable and non-renewable generation to be tracked and enable consumers to make informed decisions, the paper argues.
Another proposal is to gradually move away from the current methodology for fuel mix disclosure, which is based on annual matching — this system effectively means consumption within a specific timeframe can be matched to output in any other period during the disclosure year. The paper suggests an initial shift to quarterly matching, followed by monthly and daily matching. Closer temporal alignment would "encourage investment in grid development and deeper decarbonisation", according to Smartest Energy. It would also give a clearer picture of seasonal and daily energy demand and the physical reality of electricity flows.
The paper suggests that more transparency is particularly important now that European guarantees of origin (GOOs) are no longer recognised in the UK, and while electricity continues to flow from the continent through interconnectors.
Argus assessments for non-biomass Regos generated in the current compliance period 23 (CP23) — April 2024-March 2025 — averaged £4.19/MWh in November, while CP23 biomass was assessed at an average of £3.88/MWh.
In Europe, full disclosure has already been implemented in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Dutch GOOs tend to trade at a premium to the rest of the continent, with consumer preference for local certificates driving demand.
France moved to monthly certificate matching at the beginning of 2021.
By Giulio Bajona
