Enagás will be the entity responsible for the system of guarantees of origin for gas from renewable sources, according to one of the additional provisions of the Royal Decree approving the system of guarantees of origin for renewable gases, recently published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
In accordance with the second additional provision, the technical manager of the system is designated as the entity responsible for this new system of guarantees, until the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has the human and material resources to carry out these duties.
Thus, as part of these duties, within three months of the entry into force of the Royal Decree, Enagás will submit a proposal for a management procedure to the Secretariat of State for Energy.
Likewise, within six months of the approval of the management procedure, the company must implement the system of guarantees of origin for gas from renewable sources.
In addition, each year, it will provide the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge with a compliance report in relation to the issuance of guarantees of origin of gas from renewable sources.
Remuneration in accordance with Circular 1/2020
The duties assigned to the Technical Manager of the System, as the entity responsible for the system of guarantees of origin of gas from renewable sources, will be remunerated in accordance with Circular 1/2020 of 9 January of the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), setting out the remuneration methodology for the Technical Manager of the Gas System.
In addition, Enagás shall give the Ministry and the CNMC full access to both the register of renewable gas production facilities and to the system of guarantees of origin of gas from renewable sources.
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge may take over the management of the system of guarantees of origin once the human and material resources are available, or entrust it to a third party.
System of guarantees of origin
On Tuesday May 17, 2022, the Council of Ministers approved this Royal Decree creating a system of guarantees of origin for renewable gases, such as renewable hydrogen, biogas and biomethane, which will allow gas retail companies and consumers to differentiate them from gas of fossil origin.
The regulation also incorporates into national law the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions reduction criteria of the EU regulations for solid biomass and biogas, biofuels and bioliquids for transport, electrical uses, heating and cooling, as well as the biofuel penetration targets from 2023, which must account for 12% of consumption by 2026.
This Royal Decree partially transposes Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, as regards sustainability criteria and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy and guarantees of origin of gas from renewable sources.
With the new guarantees of origin, which are similar to the existing ones for electricity produced with renewables, each megawatt-hour (MWh) of 100% renewable gas will result in the issuance of a guarantee of origin with information on where, when and how the gas was produced. Therefore, the guarantees will provide added value when it comes to shipping the gas, which will encourage its consumption and consequently benefit the environment.
In addition, the regulation will create a Census of Renewable Gas Production Facilities and a Producers Committee. Producers and retailers will be able to trade guarantees of origin in a transparent and secure way within the system, which will document the production, transfer and cancellation of guarantees of origin.
