Green-e Energy National Standard updated to Version 3.1
The Green-e Energy National Standard ("Standard") was updated to Version 3.1 on June 9, 2017 to include a new section on the eligibility of community renewables and an appendix addressing the impact of the Washington State Clean Air Rule on the eligibility of Washington supply.
Version 3.1 of the National Standard, as well as a redline copy of changes made to Version 3.0 are available at Green-e Energy Documents. The Standard is part of Green-e Energy Participants' contract(s) for Green-e Energy certification, and the update to Version 3.1 goes into effect immediately.
To learn more about the updates, join us for a free webinar on Wednesday, July 12, Overview of Updates to the Green-e Energy National Standard.
Notification of National Standard Version 3.1
The Standard was updated to Version 3.1 on June 9, 2017 to include a new section on the eligibility of community renewables and an appendix addressing the impact of the Washington State Clean Air Rule on the eligibility of Washington supply.
Version 3.1 of the National Standard, as well as a redline copy of changes made to Version 3.0 are available at Green-e Energy Documents. The Standard is part of your contract(s) for Green-e Energy certification, and the update to Version 3.1 goes into effect immediately.
Summary of Section IV. C. Programs Contracting Supply from Portions of Specific Facilities to Individual Customers
Some community renewables programs may not align with Green-e's definition of "Single Mix" products because Green-e Energy rules currently require that products delivered to residential customers qualify as products "for which all customers receive one unique resource mix (a fixed combination of resource types, proportion of each resource type, and generation location)." Some shared renewables programs are designed to allow the generation location of different customers' purchases to vary, for example, when customers sign up to receive output from individual facilities.
In order for community renewables programs to maintain eligibility for Green-e Energy certification, these programs must satisfy the following criteria:
- The product must be structured such that each customer signs up to purchase renewable energy entirely from one specific generating unit
- Any one customer cannot enroll for 100% of a facility's output;
- The product purchased by each customer must contain the same resource type. Each customer's purchase may vary as to the source facility within a resource type, but all customers must receive the same overall resource type.
Additionally, some generation may be eligible beyond the 15-year "New Date" – up to 30 years after the commercial online date (COD). In order to be considered for such an exception, Green-e Energy Participants must submit a Community Renewables Program Exception Request to the Green-e Governance Board.
Summary of Appendix A.8. Washington State
In September 2016, the state of Washington's Department of Ecology finalized a rule that regulates emissions from certain sectors in the state, including the electricity sector. This Clean Air Rule (CAR) took effect January 1, 2017. Because emissions from the power sector are limited by regulation, emissions reductions produced by renewable energy generation will be counted toward compliance with the CAR. This means that companies and individuals who voluntarily purchase and invest in renewable energy may not be reducing emissions beyond what is required by the state, or surplus to regulation, unless additional steps are taken. In order to address this concern, states with carbon regulations have typically included mechanisms to preserve the carbon reduction benefit of voluntary renewable energy.
The CAR's Emission Reduction Unit (ERU) Reserve is intended to address the loss of regulatory surplus and grid emissions benefits in the voluntary market. However, the current mechanisms within the CAR do not meet Green-e Energy's minimum national guidelines for generation subject to additional carbon regulation. To allow Participants to continue to comply with the Green-e Energy National Standard, Green-e has developed an alternative approach for maintaining the Green-e Energy eligibility of Washington supply.
For renewable electricity generation in the state of Washington from facilities with a COD of January 1, 2017 or later, additional steps must be taken to ensure that the emissions benefits of voluntary purchases are retained, and Green-e eligibility is preserved. Participants sourcing from affected facilities must match this generation with either a) the retirement of eligible emissions allowances or b) the retirement of "Green-e compliant ERUs," which were generated as a result of emissions reductions beyond the emissions reduction pathway at a covered party.
Additional instructions related to specific retirement protocols and the criteria affecting eligibility of ERUs and emissions allowances will be provided to Green-e Energy Participants. If you have any questions about the updates and documents enclosed, please contact your Green-e representative. Thank you for your participation in Green-e Energy and for your support of high quality renewable energy.