17 December 2020
CertifHy phase III will implement a harmonized H2 Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme across Europe & beyond, build a market for H2 GO trade in close collaboration with market actors, and design a Certification Scheme for compliance with RED II renewable fuels for transport.
In October 2020, a Consortium constituted of HINICIO, Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Grexel, Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST) and TÜV SÜD was appointed by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) to lead CertifHy phase III, which will run over 3 years.
CertifHy 3 will establish harmonized Guarantees of Origin schemes across Europe. To achieve that, previous CertifHy work will be used as pre-normative research to assist the AIB1, the Association comprising most of European Issuing Bodies for renewable electricity GOs, and several ones for gas GOs, in the development of a certification scheme for renewable Hydrogen. The scheme will be developed within its newly established Gas Scheme Group (GSG), and will be compliant with RED II art. 19, the CEN-EN 16325 Standard which is in the process of being updated, and the AIB’s general requirements for GOs and other energy certificates (AIB EECS standard). The scheme will therefore facilitate harmonized implementation and future cross border transfers.
The H2 scheme will be piloted in 4 Domains across 3 Member States (MS), where Issuing Bodies (IB) have been appointed by their relevant Competent Authority: Flanders, Wallonia, Austria, Netherlands. Through an EECS-compliant H2 GO scheme, flexibility at national level will remain possible, as it is often necessary to comply with national law and requirements. Piloting at MS level will therefore be necessary to test the H2 GO scheme. This will allow learning from the issues that might arise at local level and provide input for an update of the Renewable Hydrogen Scheme within AIB GSG. These lessons learnt will also be shared with the members of newly established Working Group 5 of CertifHy for Issuing Bodies and the Pentalateral Energy Forum – a government-to-government forum comprising the Ministers of Energy from Benelux-DE-FR-AT-CH which already have a dedicated Working Group on GOs to coordinate a harmonized transposition of RED II art.19 at MS level.
In parallel, the CertifHy Stakeholder Platform – through its Working Groups - will continue to accompany CertifHy and advance it in close interaction with all interested stakeholders.
Working Group 1 takes care of the CertifHy scheme documents and procedures, which define the way of working under the CertifHy scheme for issuing, transferring and cancelling GOs and certificates. Stakeholders interested in shaping the CertifHy scheme are welcome to join this WG!
Working Group 2 focused on hydrogen production questions for GO issuance will continue to establish rules on allocation methods of renewable and non-renewable energy inputs, GHG accounting rules, etc. for new Hydrogen production pathways. The Consortium is in contact with companies willing to study a.o. hydrogen carbon monoxide units, dehydrogenation of propylene, ditto with heat by-product and HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils) refineries. The Cases studies will be conducted with WG2 of CertifHy. WG3 representing users and WG4 representing policy or scheme experts will discuss these cases afterwards. We invite Hydrogen Producers to become part of WG2. We hereby also call industry stakeholders that want to investigate new pathways which have not been studied by CertifHy: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0DGhKZ52X9DZHzfG-BqB9jwCOtDRAwi_H6_92kHLjRQWKgg/viewform
Outside of EU boundaries, a collaboration is being set up with the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines and Environment with the intent to experiment a pilot cross border GO transaction with the European Union. The pilot with Morocco will be one of the learnings CertifHy will use in a working group on H2 GOs which CertifHy will lead within the (Middle Eastern – Northern African) MENA Hydrogen Alliance to work towards the region creating an H2 GO scheme harmonized with Europe.
CertifHy will also provide input to the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) work group on hydrogen certification to ensure a harmonisation between EU and the international methodology being shaped.
At the same time, Europe is investigating new usages of GOs e.g. under the ETS MRV (Emission Trading System Monitoring, Reporting and Verification) reform which is being prepared currently. Such links will of course identify many regulatory barriers or questions which will be discussed (with other regulatory issues) in WG4 comprising regulatory experts. Let us know if you are interested in joining WG4 via this Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0DGhKZ52X9DZHzfG-BqB9jwCOtDRAwi_H6_92kHLjRQWKgg/viewform
Possible certification entities should be trained to deliver harmonized certifications and auditing procedures according to the requirements of CertifHy-Scheme. TUV SUD currently being the only certification body of the CertifHy Scheme, it will provide training to other certification bodies to create a market for these types of services. If you are a certification body and interested to provide your services to the hydrogen industry, please let us know via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0DGhKZ52X9DZHzfG-BqB9jwCOtDRAwi_H6_92kHLjRQWKgg/viewform
In terms of market development for GOs, the first year will focus on in-depth interactions with market parties to understand their needs for the hydrogen GO market. We call all interested market parties to become part of WG3 of CertifHy, while CertifHy III is engaging with associations like RECS International and EFET on this specific topic.
CertifHy 3 will build a certification system for RED II compliant renewable transport fuels (the so-called Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin “RFNBOs”). We will follow-up closely the development of the RED II delegated acts in this regard. Developing this certification system, we will also work in close collaboration with the European Renewable Gas Registry (ERGaR) whose mass balancing scheme for cross border transfer of biomethane as a transport fuel is in the process of being approved by the European Commission. Particular attention will be given to limiting the administrative burden for H2 producers, by playing on the synchronicity of audits for GOs and RNFBOs. Also, a clear focus will be on avoiding double counting of the same amount of renewable energies through coordination between the two certification regimes.
WG3 will also be active in mapping market needs for RNFBOs with a view to develop the market. If you are interested in joining WG3, please let us know via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0DGhKZ52X9DZHzfG-BqB9jwCOtDRAwi_H6_92kHLjRQWKgg/viewform
The Stakeholder Forum is the ultimate body that will approve the Scheme developed by the Working Groups. Interested in helping to shape the 1st EU-wide Hydrogen Guarantee of Origin scheme? Join the Stakeholder Platform and/or its working groups by clicking here. For more information on the Stakeholder Platform, please visit the CertifHy website: https://www.certifhy.eu/project-description/stakeholder-platform.html
For more information on the Working Groups, please visit the dedicated page on the CertifHy website: https://www.certifhy.eu/project-description/working-groups.html.
Press-contact: Dr Thomas Oberst
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