What is the price of green electricity? How much would it cost our company to have one or more years covered by renewable energy? Where do I buy Guarantees of Origin and which company provides reliable insights? These are mere examples of questions that you might have as a business owner, or as sustainability manager at a firm.
GOs form the basis for every business, whether active in electricity supply or not, to make a sustainable choice towards green electricity. By quantifying and attaching a price tag to the supply of green electricity in Europe, we see in fact a glimpse of the real demand for green electricity in society. In 2018, a staggering 540 TeraWatthour of green electricity certificates has been consumed in European countries. With such a strong demand and a supply side that can generate up to 650 TWh, it only makes sense that GOs need to be priced reliably. By achieving transparent and accurate pricing, a mature trading market was established for voluntary renewable energy certificates. How do we make sure that we achieve proper pricing of Guarantees of Origin? What’s the right procedure to achieve a high-quality price settlement for every GO? These are the questions that we ask ourselves and hear from our clients daily.
Market Maturity
GOs were created in legislation and have to adhere to definitions laid in the Directive, but until today it has remained a voluntary and unregulated market. The upside of this is that the demand is real and driven by the conviction that renewable energy is the way forward, even if it is not an obligation. The downside of the facultative aspect is that it suffers a lack of political support, commitment and obligation.
A corporation wishing to source their electricity from renewable sources is likely to receive different prices from different sources. The demand for transparent and accurate pricing of GOs is strongly demanded in our market, both from market players as from corporates. Only if the wholesale GO market is able to provide reliable and transparent price information, can we provide clear and constant supply and demand. Commerg, with its 5 years old online platform is in a natural position to deliver this, as prices come in daily and consistently from all types of market players.
Price reports
To fulfill the demand for transparency and clarity in the market, Commerg publishes price reports to its customers on a weekly basis which provide the latest insights in the GO market. These reports are based on, in order of priority:
1) Latest trades
2) Firm bids and offers
3) Indicative pricing
4) Commerg’s judgement
With this qualitative price settlement using a reliable methodology and based on live market feedback, Commerg brings more transparency and predictability in the GO market. But the reports alone are not enough, as they do not always reflect the price movement within a day or even an hour. A live ticker with all prices for every product is available for every Commerg platform user and a summary is sent every week for members of Commerg Premium. If you’d like to know more about Commerg premium, contact one of the brokers at Commerg via trading@commerg.com. Read more about Commerg Premium in our next publication here.