SEEPEX to introduce market for guarantees of origin

Serbian electricity exchange SEEPEX plans to introduce a market for guarantees of origin by the end of next year.

“We will try to establish a market for guarantees of origin as a new product on SEEPEX by the end of next year,” Dejan Stojčevski, Chief Operating Officer of SEEPEX, said at the Energy 2023 conference on Mt. Zlatibor in Serbia, organized by the domestic Energy Experts Association.

Speaking at a panel on the development of modern energy infrastructure in the context of energy storage needs, he stressed that there is a market for guarantees of origin, but that it needs to be developed further.

The market for guarantees of origin on SEEPEX will be established through a project that will also include upgrading the power exchange software.

The engagement of EPS and EMS is necessary for establishing the market

Guarantees of origin (GOs) are electronic documents proving to final consumers that a specific quantity of electricity was produced from renewable energy sources. They represent another tool to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources.

Power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and transmission system operator Elektromreža Srbije (EMS) must be a part of the project to introduce guarantees of origin at SEEPEX. EPS is the largest producer of electricity from renewable energy sources and the largest owner of guarantees of origin in Serbia. EMS is an issuer of guarantees of origin, which joined the European guarantee of origin platform AIB Hub in 2020.

In the Western Balkans, guarantees of origin are issued by Albania, Serbia, and the Republic of Srpska

Serbia was the first to start issuing guarantees of origin, in 2018, in the Western Balkans region. Albania and The Republic of Srpska, a political entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, joined it in June of this year. They did this as part of a project to introduce national registries and a regional trading scheme for guarantees of origin under EU rules, implemented by the Secretariat of the Energy Community.

Guarantees of origin are sold through national stock exchanges, for example, in Croatia, via CROPEX, and in Hungary, via HUPX.

On CROPEX, this has been done at auctions since 2019. The offer includes guarantees of origin for the electricity from privileged producers who are receiving incentives. Currently, 41 companies are registered to participate in these auctions.

The moderator of the panel was Nikola Rajaković, president of the Energy Experts Association, and the participants also included Maja Turković, Executive Vice President of CWP Europe, Nebojša Petrović, adviser at EMS, Dejan Ostojić, member of the Supervisory Board of EPS, and Željko Marković, an energy expert.