Frequently asked questions
Who needs to apply for and cancel guarantees of origin for electricity?
If an electricity supplier sells or uses renewable energy or nuclear power in its marketing, the origin of the electricity must be certified.
An electricity producer or consumer that communicates information to its customers in its other business activities about the origin of the electricity it uses must certify the proportion of renewable energy sources or nuclear power (for example, this applies to a paper mill that uses electricity it produces from renewable energy sources to manufacture paper and highlights this fact when marketing the paper).
Under the Act on Guarantees of Origin for Energy (1050/2021), if an electricity user produces renewable electricity for its own use at a plant with a rated output of less than one megavolt-ampere and states in its marketing that the electricity it uses is renewable, it does not need to certify the electricity it produces and consumes itself by cancelling guarantees of origin (GOs) unless GOs have been applied for to cover the said electricity.
What is required to issue a guarantee of origin for electricity?
Guarantees of origin (GOs) for electricity can be issued if the power plant is registered in the GO registry and holds a valid verification certificate. The plant’s net production data must also be transferred to Fingrid’s system in EDI message format.
GOs for electricity are issued monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually once the commercial imbalance settlement of electricity in the months concerned has been completed (for example, for production in August, Finextra issues GOs in mid-September).
GOs can be issued for multifuel power plants after the monthly fuel distribution has been entered into the GO registry.
What periods are guarantees of origin for electricity issued for?
Guarantees of origin (GOs) for electricity are primarily issued once a month for production in the month preceding the date of issue.
GOs can be issued for periods of one, three or six months according to the option chosen for the specific power plant. However, GOs are always issued for periods of calendar months.
How are guarantees of origin for electricity used?
A guarantee of origin (GO) for electricity can be used by cancelling it in the GO registry. Cancellation serves as proof that the electrical energy corresponding to the GO was produced from renewable energy sources or nuclear power. If a GO is not cancelled within 12 months of the end of the production period, the registry administrator will it automatically and the guarantee will no longer be available.
How are power plants verified?
To be issued guarantees of origin (GOs), the power plant operator must prove that the plant meets the requirements of the Act on Guarantees of Origin for Energy concerning the method of electricity production and the energy sources used and that reliable energy metering is used.
The GO system accepts four types of proof:
- Certification by a certification body
- Approval decision for a feed-in tariff
- European Energy Certificate System (EECS) verification
- Verified free allocation application
Assessment bodies are authorised by the Energy Authority. A list is available on the Energy Authority’s website.
EECS certification can only certify power plants with one energy source. As such, it is mainly used for wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants. The account holder and system operator should fill in the system operator’s certificate. The account holder should add the signed verification certificate to the GO registry. Alternatively, the signed verification certificate can be emailed to go@finextra.fi.
How long is a power plant’s certification valid?
According to the Energy Authority’s guidelines, verification by an certification body is valid for five years from the verifier’s date of signature.
Certification with an approval decision for a feed-in tariff is valid for as long as the feed-in tariff decision is valid.
EECS verification is valid for five years from the date stated on the verification certificate.
Certification via a verified free allocation application is valid for five years from the submission of the application.
How should I submit the power plant’s production data to Finextra?
The account holder should arrange to send the power plant’s net production data to Fingrid’s system in EDI messages.
If the power plant’s production time series is submitted to Fingrid for main grid invoicing purposes and it can be used in this form for issuing guarantees of origin, no other time series is required.
If the measurements used to calculate the power plant’s net production time series are for power plants connected to Fingrid’s main grid, it is not usually necessary to submit a separate time series.
How is fuel data verified at multifuel plants?
The fuel data for multifuel plants should be entered directly into the guarantee of origin (GO) registry before the guarantee of origin certificate is issued.
The power plant operator is responsible for ensuring that the fuel data is accurate.
It must be possible to verify the reliability of the information for at least six years from the end of the calendar year to which the information applies.
What is the deadline for cancelling this year’s guarantees of origin if they have been used in information communicated to electricity users?
A guarantee of origin for electricity that applies to electricity produced in the current year and is used to verify information communicated to electricity users in the current year must be cancelled by 31 March of the following year.
How long are guarantees of origin valid when they are issued?
A guarantee of origin for electricity can be used within 12 months of the final production date of the corresponding electrical energy, after which it expires.
How do guarantees of origin for electricity expire?
Guarantees of origin (GO) expire if they are not used – i.e. if they are not cancelled – within 12 months of the production date of the electrical energy corresponding to the GO.
Expired GOs for electricity cannot be transferred or cancelled. In other words, they cannot be used to certify electricity as renewable.
How can guarantees of origin for electricity be transferred between EU/EEA states?
In principle, Finland recognises guarantees of origin (GOs) for electricity granted in EU/EEA countries for renewable energy and nuclear power in accordance with the RED II Directive.
In practice, the GO market operates according to the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) EECS standard. EECS GOs are transferred between the registries of AIB member countries via the AIB Hub. Finextra is an AIB member, and transfers take place from the electronic GO registry.
An aggregator can act as a common account holder for several producers
An account holder can administer the power plants of several producers (as an ‘aggregator’). In such a case, the aggregator is responsible for the customer service, the necessary powers of attorney, and the power plant data of these operators. Aggregators can be electricity traders, portfolio managers or other service providers.
Aggregation makes it easier for smaller electricity producers to use the system because potential aggregators often provide other market services to smaller operators. This arrangement makes it possible to share the fixed costs among several operators involved in the aggregation.
My power plant data is changing. What should I report and whom should I report it to?
If the power plant data changes during the validity of the certification (for example, material changes to the power plant’s production method or energy sources or changes in the shares of cooperative power plants), the power plant operator must make the requisite changes directly in the electronic registry administered by Finextra. Finextra will check and approve the changes in the registry. Alternatively, changes can be reported to the registry administrator at go@finextra.fi.
Are you looking for more information about guarantees of origin for electricity?
If you have any questions about guarantees of origin (GOs) for electricity and the GO registry, please contact go@finextra.fi. We also have a mailing list of contact persons for customers and stakeholders, and we communicate new information to them. You can sign up to receive these communications by contacting the email address above.