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   hanno (hanno@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 16-Dec-2023 16:16:50 JST hanno

   During a press trip to Iceland last year, I noticed something that looked very strange: Within the country, practically every large electricity consumer would claim that they use renewable energy. Of course: Iceland's grid is entirely powered by hydropower and geothermal energy. But at the same time, green electricity from Iceland is sold in EU countries through certificates called "Guarantees of Origin". It appeared that the same green electricity was sold twice. 🧵

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     hanno (hanno@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 16-Dec-2023 16:16:50 JST hanno

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     It looked like a major case of fraud. Later, I learned that very similar things were happening in Norway. After trying to understand what was happening and finally confirming this, the stories I published had some fallout: The Association of Issuing Bodies temporarily banned exports of these GOs from Iceland. But that didn't last long. This story now appears to have come to an end, with AIB accepting the Icelandic practice and with no plans to even investigate Norway.

     pettter repeated this.
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     hanno (hanno@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 16-Dec-2023 16:16:50 JST hanno

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     Iceland's regulator argues what is happening here is "Double Claiming", not "Double Counting", and that's allowed by their interpretation of the rules. AIB seems to accept that. This severely questions the usefulness and legitimacy of green electricity certificates and pretty much all green electricity tariffs in Europe. All details in my latest article: https://industrydecarbonization.com/news/the-trouble-with-european-green-electricity-certificates.html?source=mn #renewableenergy #greenelectricity