The Energy Community Secretariat is looking for experts to support the establishment of a regional system for guarantees of origin in line with the European Union’s legislation.

The regional system for guarantees of origin (GOs) will be set up for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine and potentially Montenegro.

Among the contracting parties, only Serbia issues GOs, it is done by the transmission system operator Elektromreža Srbije (EMS).

The primary goal of renewable energy certification is to enable disclosure, revealing the origin of energy sold to final consumers, and give consumers more ownership over the choice of the origin of their energy. They serve as an important tool to boost renewables investment and drive the energy transition.

Each contracting party could issue national GOs, and conduct its own national registry

The Secretariat is seeking consultants to support a number of interested contracting parties to put in place an electronic system to manage the issuance, transfer and cancellation of guarantees of origin in line with the relevant EU legislation, according to the announcement.

The system shall be designed on a regional level, while each contracting party could issue national GOs, and conduct its own national registry. EU doesn’t recognize GOs from the Energy Community but that could change with new Renewable Energy Directive.

The system is expected to be launched by mid-2022

The system is expected to be established in the first half of 2022, and bids can be submitted by September 27, the secretariat said.

The tender also responds to the 2020 Ministerial Council’s call for support for contracting parties developing a regional system of GOs.

In March, the secretariat invited contracting parties to express interest in the introduction of a regional trading scheme for GOs as a step toward integrating with the EU. It also presented a discussion paper on the implementation of the system.

The goal of the regional system for GOs is to allow the certificates to be issued and then traded among the contracting parties, representing the first step towards integration with the European market, the secretariat said.