The EnergyTag Initiative is an independent, non-profit, industry-led initiative to define and build a market for hourly electricity certificates that enables energy users to verify the source of their electricity and carbon emissions in real-time.
It’s a cruel irony that the more successful we are at deploying renewable energy the harder it gets to integrate that energy into the grid. Current renewable energy procurement methods match average supply and demand over a 12-month period. This works well when there is only a small amount of renewables but as the share of wind and solar increases this method significantly overestimates carbon savings* and means that organisations following today’s criteria for being ‘100% renewable’ still rely on fossil fuel electricity from the grid many times a day throughout the year. Without sufficient precision, energy consumers lack visibility on the source of their energy and carbon emissions, and there is no incentive for energy storage and flexibility.
* [de Chandelar et al, Stanford University 2019]
Adopting a 24/7 hour-by-hour accounting period for certificates enables consumers to understand exactly where their energy is coming from and what their carbon emissions are at any given moment. This benefits consumers and the environment in several ways:
Our goal is to establish a common, tradable instrument that provides traceability across markets for power, flexibility and carbon.
The EnergyTag Initiative is holding working groups over the coming weeks to discuss inputs to our white paper and the development of several demonstrator projects around the world – to participate please use the contact form on this website.
The concept of hourly energy certificates is growing fast and we already have a community of nearly 200 companies. For an overview of the project and to see some of those already involved watch our overview video.
The first consultation on the details of an hourly renewable energy certificate standard and how it should fit into existing markets is open for comment until 5th February. We are inviting comment on questions such as the size of an EnergyTag, whether it should include carbon emissions, how storage should be treated and many others.
The responses will feed into a white paper to be released in March. Please let us know your thoughts… you don’t have to be a member to participate:
EIT InnoEnergy hosted an interactive webinar on the EnergyTag Initiative in December with speakers from EnergyTag, Google, ENGIE and PwC. You can watch the recording here:
On 5/12, join the International Markets track at REBA Connect: Virtual Member Summit '21 to discuss how cross-border renewable energy transactions are achievable from the REBA Pan-European Renewables Procurement Case Study. Register now: http://bit.ly/3aXsshi
#RVMS21 @abinbev
Select programming from this year’s REBA Virtual Member Summit is available to non-members! Join us May 4-20 for the event’s welcome remarks, the State of the Market, and REBA Institute presentations. Register at https://bit.ly/3mUVJy4 #RVMS21
Eurelectric's Power Summit will cover 24/7 renewable energy on Day 1, with sector integration, flexibility and hydrogen on Day 3... looks like an engaging programe
EnergyTag is an independent, global, non-profit, industry-led initiative to define and build a market for hourly electricity certificates. The EnergyTag standard is a voluntary set of guidelines that work with existing certificate schemes such as GOs and RECs and with other procurement methods such as PPAs.
The initiative currently has three main activities;
We are independent from any particular technology or organisation, but our membership comprises over 60 leading companies, NGOs and academic institutions. Our Council and Advisory Board are working to define the first standard for energy certificates with a timestamp of 1 hour (or less) and set market guidelines for issuing and trading certificates. In parallel, the initiative will stimulate the first voluntary markets by coordinating a series of demonstrator projects around the world and will showcase existing technologies for real-time renewable energy tracking.
The EnergyTag Initiative is coordinating a number of projects around the world to test how the standard works in practice and showcase technologies for 24/7 energy tracking. Please get in touch if you are interested in participating.
The EnergyTag Initiative will publish its first set of guidelines in a white paper in early 2021 and the first Demonstrator projects will happen in parallel throughout 2021.
Founding advisory board members include the world’s largest renewable producers and consumers, grid operators, start-ups and key organisations in the energy certificates market, including;
