Green certificate
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A Green Certificate also known as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) is a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents generation of 1 Megawatthour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varies from certificate trading scheme to trading scheme. Usually, at least following sources are considered as renewable:
- Wind (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
- Solar (often further divided into photovoltaic and thermal)
- Wave (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
- Tidal (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
- Geothermal
- Hydro (often further divided into small and large)
- Biomass (often further divided by actual fuel used)
Green certificates represent the environmental value of renewable energy generated. The certificates can be traded separately from the energy produced. Several countries use green certificates as mean to make the support of green electricity generation closer to market economy instead of more bureaucratic investment support and feed-in tariffs. Such national trading schemes are in use in e.g. Poland, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), and some US states.
