Renewable Energy Certificate System (RECS)

Besides the renewable energy guarantees of origin issued in accordance with Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009, the pan-European Renewable Energy Certificate System (RECS) also provides standardised certificates for renewable generation. As with GOs, RECS certificates are tradable either separately from or together with the underlying electricity. This has created a renewable energy market that promotes the development of renewable energy capacity in Europe .

A RECS certificate is issued for each 1 MWh of power generated from renewable energy sources. Each certificate is uniquely identifiable, transferable and hence tradable, and contains a range of information including:

• Unique certificate number;
• Issuer;
• Quantity in MWh;
• Identity of the generating station;
• Time of issue;
• Technology used for generation;
• Installed capacity;
• Details of public support payments received.

Life cycle of a RECS certificate:

1. Issue: a RECS certificate is issued for each 1 MWh of power generated from renewable energy sources.
2. Transfer: ownership of RECS certificates is recorded upon transfer to prevent multiple use.
3. Cancellation/redeeming: RECS certificates are cancelled as soon as they are used for electricity disclosure.

RECS is not a renewable energy support payment scheme. However, thanks to the extensive information they contain, RECS certificates can be built into a wide variety of national support systems, provided that local legislation permits this.

The common rules for RECS certificates ensure that the same standards and processes are applied across Europe.

The RECS system is largely organised at country level. E-Control is the RECS issuing body (IB) for Austria. All IBs belong to the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB). Formed in 2002, the AIB monitors national compliance with the common rules. The main function of the AIB is providing a trustworthy and transparent international system for energy certificate trading. Both RECS certificates and GOs are traded.

For further details visit www.recs.org .

Additional information on the AIB is avaliable at www.aib-net.org .

For technical inquiries on generating station certification, please contact:
Österreichischer Verband für Elektrotechnik (ÖVE [Austrian Electrotechnical Association]),
Wolfgang Martin.
Phone: 01-370 58 06.
E-mail: martin@ove.at .