Tuesday, 20 July 2021
The Certificate of Origin (CoO) Scheme by ERGaR (the European Renewable Gas Registry) is now in operation, and the first transaction between two registries was successfully conducted.
On July 15, 2021, the ERGaR Certificate of Origin (CoO) Scheme was officially launched, with the first exchange performed by Vertogas (NL) and the Green Gas Certification Scheme (UK). In this regard, STX Commodities was in charge of the transfer as a trader for both sides to transfer biomethane certificates from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom.
“The European energy sector is now undergoing a deep transformation to support the achievement of the European Union’s target of climate neutrality by 2050. The ERGaR CoO Scheme and related activities will play an important role in supporting European countries in the deployment of renewable gases and the achievement of their climate targets,” said Jeppe Bjerg, President of ERGaR.
Founded in September 2016 under Belgian law, ERGaR is an international non-profit organisation, aiming to establish an efficient, trustworthy, and professional administrative system to support the cross-border transfer and distribution of renewable gases throughout Europe. Currently, the organisation has 29 members from 15 European countries, including non-EU member states. Members include national biomethane/renewable gas registries, biogas associations, natural gas transmission and system operators, and other relevant stakeholders.
The ERGaR CoO Scheme has the main objective to facilitate CoO transfer among participating registries, who issue CoOs for injected green gases into the national gas grids in their respective countries. The scheme covers hydrocarbon gases, hydrogen and biomethane, as well as other renewable gases, and is operated electronically by recording renewable gas certificate data in a harmonised manner, while concerning specific requirements of different registries. ERGaR CoOs follow the “book and claim” approach, and are complied with Article 19 of Directive EU 2018/2001 for the issuance of renewable gas Guarantees of Origin (GOs). Additionally, once the revision of the CEN-EN 16325 standard for gas GOs is finalised, ERGaR CoO will be modified, where necessary, to fully comply with the new standard.
According to ERGaR, four additional biomethane registries are in the process to participate in the ERGaR CoO Scheme, together with GGCS and Vertogas. Matthias Edel, ERGaR Secretary General, said “After the successful connection of the biomethane registries of AGCS (AT), dena (DE), Energinet (DK) and GRdF (FR), the ERGaR CoO Scheme will represent about 90 % of European biomethane production volume. Other countries are fast catching up with these forerunners and their applications to become system participants are warmly welcomed.”
More information to participate in the ERGaR CoO Scheme and other important documents can be found at ERGaR CoO Scheme.
Source: ERGaR