Introduction to GO Market

A Guarantee of Origin (GO) is an EU guarantee that a certain quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources (as defined in the RES Directive). GOs are tradable and represent a claim to the environmental benefits associated with renewable energy generation. They can be traded electronically in the voluntary market for renewable power certificates.

Selling of GOs

The main objective of GOs is to encourage more transparency in the energy market and stimulate investments in the renewable energy sector in order to push fossil fuels out of the market. While the purchasing of CO2 permits can be mandatory in order not to exceed stipulated levels of emissions, acquisitions of GOs are entirely voluntary. Though they do allow for companies to achieve their clean energy goals, such as zero emissions for consumed electricity in their carbon footprint report. These kinds of statements can be used for marketing and communication purposes. Thus, companies often buy GOs from clean energy providers to improve their reputation and convince customers of their sustainability approach. Each GO is identified by a unique number. Thus, it can be traced as it is transferred from the producer to the consumer and double-counting can be avoided. There is no fixed price for a GO, and their value depends on market demand. One GO is equivalent to 1 MWh of electricity produced.

Increasing GO demand

The demand for renewable energy is growing constantly, especially since more and more companies introduce green agendas. Partially because ecological sustainability matters to them, and partially because they want to target customers to whom the environment matters. For example in the global RE100 association 260 companies have announced to solely consume 100% renewable energy, including Nike, Ikea, Google and Coca Cola.

Net3Energy approach on GOs

As Net3Energy promotes the production of green energy through solar panels, the company can give out GOs. Producers of green energy will be receiving the GOs and can either keep them or delegate to Net3.Energy to sell them to maximize their profits. They can be sold to companies, which are not able to reduce their CO2 emissions at an economical rate but want to improve their ecological footprint. Net3Energy will not only be providing its customers with the GO certificates but also support producers by selling them and facilitate its trade in our own exchange.