Nine electronic registries for guarantees of origin are ready to drive renewables uptake in the Energy Community

Under the regional project launched by the Energy Community Secretariat in January 2022, electronic registries for guarantees of origin have been created for Albania, two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine. All nine registries are ready to go-live following the signing of direct agreements between the Contracting Parties’ issuing bodies and the service provider Grexel. After signing the agreements, two or more Contracting Parties will be able to trade guarantees of origin through the regional system established by the service provider.

At yesterday’s workshop, the Energy Community Secretariat strongly encouraged the Contracting Parties’ issuing bodies to use the present momentum to sign follow-up agreements as soon as possible and take advantage of the benefits provided by the system developed under the project. The service provider will keep the national registries and all configurations on stand-by until the end of June 2023 to allow sufficient time for the agreements to be concluded.

The back-to-back Renewable Energy Coordination Group meeting underlined the potential that a well-functioning regional system of guarantees of origin could have on boosting renewables and fast-tracking the energy transition in the Energy Community. Discussions also focussed on the best ways forward for transposing the new Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) by the end of 2022 deadline. The Group heard from the European Commission about the “REPowerEU” plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and new EU guidelines to expedite permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.

^{* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.}