News from GGCS

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Green Gas Certificate demand smashes the 1TWh barrier

Posted: 10 November, 2017. Written by Jesse Scharf

• Record use of green gas certificates as 1TWh mark passed
• 1 TWh of green gas is enough gas to power 83,000 UK homes for a year

Suppliers have now sold enough renewable gas through the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS) to cover the annual consumption of 83,000 homes, cook 300 million Sunday roasts, or fry four billion eggs. The scheme is announcing today that sales of its certificates have now hit 1 TWh. 

Increasing numbers of consumers are becoming aware that, just as they can buy renewable electricity ‘certificates’, the rapid growth in the number of plants injecting biomethane into the gas grid is opening opportunities to include green gas as part of their energy mix.

Nearly all the leading business energy suppliers are now using the GGCS to offer green gas to their customers, with Corona Energy making the largest volume of sales to date.

High profile businesses such as Sainsbury’s, Kingspan, Landsec and Unilever are now using Green Gas Certificates to drive down their reported onsite greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 emissions).

Showing the role renewable gas can play in the circular economy, Severn Trent are powering their operations with biomethane produced from the sewage sludge they process, while GENeco are collecting food waste using the Bio-Bee, a truck which runs on the gas the waste produces.   

There are an estimated 200,000 households signed up to green gas tariffs across eight different energy suppliers, with E.ON recently announcing that its new EV tariff will come with 100% green gas.

The green gas market has significant scope to develop in the UK with a recent study suggesting the potential for renewable gas production to hit 149TWh by 2050 - enough to power over 10 million homes.

Jesse Scharf, Scheme Manager at the Green Gas Certification Scheme said; 

“We’ve worked hard to raise the profile of green gas and consumers are now becoming aware of the potential for our Certificates to support their emissions reduction strategies. We have had significant growth in both sales and interest in green gas in 2017, with a fourfold increase in demand year on year.”

“With over 40 biomethane plants now part of the Scheme, representing over half the UK’s production capacity, the GGCS is well placed to meet this growing demand. We would encourage any biomethane producers who are not yet part of the scheme to get in touch and discuss how we can help support their business.”

Commenting on their involvement, Chryssa Tamvaki from Corona Energy (a supplier) said:

“We’re proud to have led the development of this exciting new market in the UK.

The Green Gas Certification Scheme offers a clear, credible and transparent system for our customers to know we are supplying them with green gas that has been securely tracked through the supply chain“

Ben Brown, Energy Bureau Manager at Landsec, a green gas consumer said:

“The Green Gas Certification Scheme ensures we know exactly where our gas comes from and how it’s produced. This means we can make a clear ethical choice on what we purchase, minimising our own carbon emissions and driving demand for green gas to decarbonise the UK grid as well.”

Dr. Kiara Zennaro, Head of Biogas at the Renewable Energy Association said:

“We’ve seen huge growth in the green gas sector since 2010 and the success of this scheme is both exciting and essential. 1TWh of sales is a great sign that this industry is maturing.”

 

—ENDS—

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Jesse Scharf, GGCS Scheme Manager

jscharf@greengas.org.uk (020 7981 0853)

www.greengas.org.uk

Twitter: @GreenGasCert

 

Or

Daniel Brown

Media and External Affairs Officer

Renewable Energy Association

44 (0)20 7981 0857

dbrown@r-e-a.net

 

Notes to Editors

• 1 TWh is 1,000 GWh, 1,000,000 MWh or 1,000,000,000 kWh1 TWh of Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs) have now been retired from the GGCS system. These RGGOs are sold to consumers listed on Certificates.1TWh is enough gas to;
• power 83,000 UK homes for a year @12,000 kWh per house /per year (Ofgem’s Typical Domestic Consumption Value (TDCV) for a medium sized house) 
• Cook 4 billion rashers of bacon @1 kWh per gas hob use cooking four rashers at a time.
• Fry 4 billion eggs @ 1kWh per gas hob use cooking four eggs at a time.Cook 300 million Sunday roasts @ 3kWh per gas oven use
• Green Gas Certificates issued by GGCS meet the reporting standards of the GHG Protocol, the world's most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard.
• Guidance by the CDP, who support greater environment reporting by organisations, has also confirmed Green Gas Certificates can be used as part of GHG emissions reporting.There have also been significant sales of green gas to gas consumers in other EU Member States.
• The GGCS is the UK representative on the European Renewable Gas Registry (ERGaR) project, which is working towards establishing a multilateral system for trading Renewable Gas Guarantees or Origin (RGGOs) across Europe.
• Eight out of the ten biggest non-domestic gas suppliers use the scheme to provide green gas to their customers. Approx. 200,000 household customers of eight different domestic energy suppliers (Bulb, Good Energy, Ecotricity, Green Energy UK, Tonik, Solarplicity, ENGIE and E.ON) have all or part of their gas use matched to Green Gas Certificates.
• Details of E.ONs EV tariff can be found here - https://www.greengas.org.uk/news/ggcs-member-eon-includes-green-gas-in-new-ev-renewables-tariff 
• Further information on GGCS members can be found here - https://www.greengas.org.uk/certificates
• The GGCS represents the UK within in the European Renewable Gas Registries (ERGaR) project -  www.ergar.org
• For  more formation on the CDP guidance on green gas certificate use see here - https://www.greengas.org.uk/news/cdp-release-new-technical-note-on-use-of-green-gas-certificates 
• Further details on how Green Gas Certificates can be used within voluntary emission reporting schemes can be found here - https://www.greengas.org.uk/certificates/emissions-reporting
• The report by Cadent on the potential for renewable gas has suggested that between 7 and 15 million homes could be powered by renewable gas - http://cadentgas.com/getattachment/About-us/The-future-role-of-gas/Renewable-gas-potential/Promo-Downloads/Renewable-gas-potential-infographic-Oct-2017.pdf

 

About the Green Gas Certification Scheme

Established in 2011 the Green Gas Certification Scheme issues Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs) for units of biomethane injected into the gas grid and securely tracks them through to gas consumers who are provided with a Green Gas Certificate that can be used as evidence of their biomethane use. The Scheme was established by the REA Biogas group and is run by the Renewable Energy Association via its subsidiary Renewable Energy Assurance Limited (REAL).

The GGCS is the UK’s largest biomethane registry both by sales and production capacity of its members.  

About the Renewable Energy Association (REA)

The Renewable Energy Association represents renewable energy producers and promotes the use of all forms of renewable energy in the UK across power, heat, transport and recycling. It is the largest renewable energy and clean technology (including energy storage and electric vehicles) trade association in the UK, with over 600 members, ranging from major multinationals to sole traders.

For more information, visit: www.r-e-a.net