Market
What questions are market parties asking?
Is anyone allowed to buy a certificate? To whom can certificates be sold?
In order to buy an EECS certificate, you must have an account with an Issuing Body that is a member of AIB.
EECS certificates can be sold to anybody who has an account with an Issuing Body that is a member of AIB, provided they are transferred into the account of the purchaser. Where they are used as evidence of the nature of supply to a consumer, then they must first be cancelled by the supplier.
Is there a market within Europe for certificates from outside Europe?
Yes, but it is extremely small at the moment.
What is the price of a certificate? Do different types of certificates have different prices?
The price of a certificate varies depending upon the type of certificate.
The price of Guarantees of Origin is set by the market, and influenced by such factors as when the energy was produced, the source of the energy and the type of production device. It is also influenced by the size of the transaction, large trades attracting lower prices than small trades.
Currently, EECS does not support those certificates put in place by governments specifically to support national support schemes: the price of these being set (or influenced) by government.
Where can you use a certificate?
Certificates can be used to disclose the source of energy, and thus the environmental impact of energy production, to consumers. They might also be used to demonstrate to government the achievement of national targets. They can also be used to enable many types of support schemes, whether voluntary (green energy and green label schemes); or obligatory (such as supply obligations, portfolio standards and feed-in systems). They do so by enabling the source of the energy to be guaranteed, and can in some cases be traded internationally.
EECS certificates are currently exclusively for dislcosure to consumers, and are internationally transferrable throughout Europe.