In 2015, only Gen-I and HEP Generation actively traded green certificates. Power utility HEP is also preparing to register more facilities.
Of all HEP’s hydro power plants, only the HPP Lešće with the capacity of 42 MW has entered the guarantee of origin system for electricity so far.
The Guarantee of Origin is issued for the generated electricity either from a plant using a renewable energy source or from a highly-efficient cogeneration plant, exclusively at the request of a privileged producer. The privileged producers within the incentive system and which are entitled to an incentive price do not have the right to participate in the guarantee of origin system.
At the same time, the HPP Lešće is the only Croatian facility for generation from RES which had been entered into the Croatian register kept by HROTE (Croatian Energy Market Operator) so far, and the energy from this power plant may be sold and purchased at a privileged price in the country but also abroad, because every megawatt gets its green certificate. The Guarantee of Origin system was discussed at the thematic round table organized by the Croatian Business Council for Sustainable Development, and it gathered in one place the representatives of HROTE, HERA (Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency), electricity suppliers and the members of business community interested in certified “green energy”.
Dubravka Brkić from HROTE said that only four users had been entered into the guarantee of origin register so far, and these are HEP Generation, GEN-I, HEP Supply and Proenergy. In 2015, only Gen-I and HEP Generation actively traded in the so-called green certificates, and the more participants and transactions there are, the lesser the register fees will also be. A higher volume of trade in the guarantees of origin is expected in the future, as well as the entrance of HEP’s hydro power plants into the guarantee system, so as to create the conditions for obtaining the certificate. This energy will be more expensive in the future because it will not be available in such quantities as the energy from conventional sources, and green certificates should also be an incentive for investing in RES. In addition, it is expected that suppliers will show even greater interest in selling specific products which have a certain share of green energy. The National Action Plan for Green Public Procurement envisages that, already in the first phase from 2015 to 2017, the suppliers should sell to entities 50% of energy from RES, and in the second phase, all energy should come from RES, which will be difficult, if not even impossible, to implement in Croatia. Tina Jakaša, Director of HEP Supply, said that this company had sold 630 GWh of green energy so far, and one of their customers was also the city of Ljubljana, this year’s European green capital. Snježana Bahtijari from Ericsson explained the interest of the Swedish company in the procurement of energy from RES by sustainability and social responsibility towards the wider environment, but also by the strategic positioning of the company itself which wishes to influence its carbon footprint. JGL and Valamar Riviera also share such ambitions, and their representatives expressed their interest in certified green energy, too, transmits Serbia-energy.eu
