In promoting green gas production in Lithuania, in June, the natural gas transmission system operator Amber Grid will start providing businesses with guarantees of origin for gas produced from renewable energy sources. This is provided for in the Order of the Minister of Energy that was signed in May this year.
The National Register of Guarantees of Origin of gas from renewable energy sources will start operating from the 1st of June. Amber Grid will be responsible for providing and administering the guarantees of origin.
Guarantees of origin issued by other European Union countries will be also recognized in Lithuania. This means that it will be possible to import and export guarantees of origin to countries with which the Lithuanian gas system is directly or indirectly connected.
“The National Register of Guarantees of Origin allows registration and monitoring of the origin of green gas produced and used in Lithuania. Consumers will be given confidence that the gas they use was produced using renewable energy sources. This system is especially useful for companies that seek using in their activities green energy that was produced in Lithuania or other European Union country”, saisys Saulius Bilys, the CEO of Amber Grid.
The development of renewable energy sources, such as green gas, brings closer to Lithuania’s aim of becoming the country of green energy. Trends show that green gas, as well as the possibility to justify environmental properties of energy in a certified manner are growing in Europe. “By establishing the National Register of Guarantees of Origin, we open up opportunities for increasing the share of renewable resources in the overall portfolio of energy produced or consumed”, says S. Bilys. According to him, the future of energy that is independent of fossil fuels must be based on renewable energy of various types.
Amber Grid will provide guarantees of origin for producers of gas from renewable sources, and their transfer to providers or end-users that use green gas in their activities. The obligation to establish Lithuanian Register of Guarantees of Origin of gas produced from RES is enshrined in the European Union Renewable Energy Directive transposed into national legislation.
Green gas is produced from biomass or other renewable energy sources. The guarantee of origin will be granted to one unit of energy - one megawatt-hour (MWh) supplied to the natural gas transmission network. Records on the granting, transfer and cancellation of guarantees of origin are made in the Register of Guarantees of Origin. No more than one guarantee of origin will be granted for each unit of energy produced from renewable energy sources. The register is also required for the supervision and control of the use, import and export of guarantees of origin.
Green gas certificates that justify the origin of green gas are required by producers of gas from renewable sources, the heat sector and even the car industry.
Buyers acquire certificates to have a documentary evidence of the raw value of green gas products that are used in the heat sector, heating of public buildings, reduction of environmental pollution or social responsibility implemented by companies.
Production of gas from RES and its supply to gas networks in Europe is growing and is already measured in tens of terawatt-hours (TWh). Denmark is one of the leaders in Europe. The certificates of biomethane produced from renewable sources in this country are sold not only domestically but also in Sweden, Germany and other EU countries. In 2018, biomethane in Denmark accounted for about 7% of all gas consumed in the country.
