Guarantees of origin for electricity

In order to obtain guarantees of origin for electricity, it is necessary to open a guarantees of origin account as a producer. An account can be opened both by companies and private individuals.

• First, production devices must be registered in the electronic information system green.elering.ee. When registering a device, please upload a network contract related to the production device into the information system, fill in, sign and upload an application for joining the register of guarantees of origin, standard terms and conditions for using guarantees of origin, confirmation letter regarding receipt/non-receipt of investment aid, and for devices with a capacity of 50 kW or more, please also fill in and sign the device registration form (if possible, please sign all documents in one folder).
• If the production device is already registered in the information system, then to join the register of guarantees of origin, a filled in and signed application for joining the register of guarantees of origin, standard terms and conditions for the use of guarantees of origin, and a confirmation letter regarding receipt/non-receipt of investment aid must be sent to [email protected].
• If a producer has already joined the register of guarantees of origin and wishes to issue guarantees of origin for its production device that is not registered in Elering’s renewable energy information system, the production device must be registered in the electronic information system green.elering.ee, adding to it a valid network contract related to the production device and the attached filled in and signed confirmation letter regarding receipt/non-receipt of investment aid. For devices with a capacity of 50 kW or more, please also fill in and sign the device registration form (if possible, please sign all documents in one folder).

Elering confirms the opening of the account by e-mail.

Once the device is registered and a guarantees of origin account has been opened as a producer, guarantees of origin are issued automatically on a monthly basis.

The quantity of electricity for which a guarantee of origin is issued is determined by a remote reading device and is considered to be the netted production supplied to the network of a system operator operating under an activity licence during the trading period and the quantity of electricity transmitted to the consumer through a direct line in accordance with this Act.

If a device uses biomass and/or several different fuels, it is also necessary to submit a report on the fuel used to generate electricity (and heat in the case of co-generation) for the previous calendar month by the fifth day of each calendar month.

Starting in November 2022, guarantees of origin are issued only for the previous month’s production in accordance with subsection 3 (4) of Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Regulation No. 69 “Rules for issuing, transferring and cancelling a guarantee of origin and the list of particulars to be filed when applying for such a guarantee” of 13 September 2022.

A producer can transfer guarantees of origin to an account of their choice within 12 months following the end of the production period. After that, guarantees of origin cannot be transferred.

Opening a guarantees of origin account, issuing guarantees of origin, and transfers within the register are free of charge. Fees apply to inter-registry transactions. More information under “Fees” (https://elering.ee/en/guarantees-origin-electricity).

If a production device is granted state investment aid after 15 June 2022 or a decision is made regarding the production device to start the support period, as a general rule, guarantees of origin are not issued to the producer. According to subsection 32¹⁰ (10) of the Energy Sector Organisation Act, as an exception, guarantees of origin may be issued to a producer only if, on payment of such support, revenue from the guarantees of origin is deducted from the support in accordance with state aid rules, or where the support is set off against the revenue or where the person to receive the support has been determined by means of a reverse auction.

Based on the above, after 15 June 2022, there are the following options for obtaining guarantees of origin when granting support:

• prove that, as is evident from the terms and conditions of support, revenue from the guarantees of origin is deducted from the support when paying the support or that the person to receive the support has been determined by means of a reverse auction;
• waive support; or
• submit an application  for offsetting investment aid and revenue from the guarantees of origin in accordance with the regulation. If revenue from guarantees of origin has exceeded the value of investment aid granted to the same production device, the producer must submit an application and the necessary additional documents to open a guarantees of origin account, following which guarantees of origin are issued to the producer’s account for the output of the same production device starting from the following calendar month.

Attachments:

In order to trade guarantees of origin and use (delete) them to prove the origin of the electricity used by a consumer, a trader’s account must be opened.

To do this, it is necessary to submit a filled in and signed application and the attached standard terms and conditions to the e-mail address [email protected].

Guarantees of origin can be transferred electronically to other account holders in Elering’s registry or to other registries connected to the AIB Hub. The exact list can be found HERE.

Guarantees of origin can be transferred to an account of one’s choice within 12 months following the end of the production period. After that, guarantees of origin cannot be transferred.

Opening a guarantees of origin account, deleting guarantees of origin, and transfers within the register are free of charge. Fees apply to inter-registry transactions. More information under “Fees” (https://elering.ee/en/guarantees-origin-electricity).

Guarantees of origin can be deleted within 18 months following the end of the production period. Guarantees of origin can be deleted to prove consumption for the current calendar year and, until 31 March, to prove consumption for the previous calendar year.

Producer’s account holders can also open a trader’s account if they wish to delete guarantees of origin.

Attachments:

A guarantee of origin is the only proof of the origin of the energy consumed. Guarantees of origin can be obtained together with electricity (by choosing a renewable electricity package from an electricity supplier) or separately from electricity.

Elering has developed a proof of origin portal for electricity located on the green.elering.ee website, i.e. in Elering’s Renewable Energy Information System. The portal displays the origin of the consumed electricity to consumers whose personal identification code or registry code is linked to a metering point in Elering’s Electricity Data Warehouse, i.e. in whose name the electricity contract is held. More information HERE.

Guarantees of origin for electricity have been issued, transferred and deleted in Estonia since 2013.

In 2023, 2,607 GWh of electricity was generated from renewable sources, and respective guarantees of origin were issued for 2,306 gigawatt-hours.

In 2024, 3,398 GWh of electricity was generated from renewable sources, and respective guarantees of origin were issued for 2,892 gigawatt-hours.

GO statistics drawing:

Elering AS manages an electronic database of guarantees of origin. According to subsection 58¹ (2) of the Electricity Market Act, the transmission system operator has the right to charge a fee for operations performed with guarantees of origin.

From 1 May 2022, fees for transactions with guarantees of origin are established as follows:

Value added tax is added to the charge. Elering AS issues an invoice at the beginning of the month following the quarter based on the number of transactions performed in the previous quarter.

No fee is charged to open an account when joining the electronic database of guarantees of origin.

No fee is charged to issue, delete and transfer a guarantee of origin between accounts in the Estonian electronic database of guarantees of origin.