Tech giants such as Google and Microsoft, along with other companies and organisations like the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE), have called for the timely implementation of Granular Guarantees of Origin (GOs) within the established issuing bodies of the EU as a voluntary instrument for advanced clean energy products.
The most recent update of the Renewable Energy Directive has enabled and encouraged the use of Granular GOs. As the EU electricity markets and decarbonisation objectives evolve, the group claims that the Guarantees of Origin should also evolve to ensure accurate electricity origin tracking and source disclosure to consumers. Granular GOs add sub-hourly production times to the current date-only GOs, enabling matching of energy production to consumption on an hourly basis.
The consortium issued a letter stating, “We write to express our collective support for the timely implementation of Granular Guarantees of Origin (GOs) within the established issuing bodies of the EU as a voluntary instrument for advanced clean energy products.”
Granular GOs can contribute to the clean energy transition in several ways such as verifying renewable hydrogen, enabling enhanced voluntary green claims, advancing decarbonisation, enabling enhanced clean consumer hedging, enabling European digital innovation and enhanced corporate disclosure.
The signatories urged EU Member States and issuing bodies to incorporate granular GOs into their national legislative frameworks and ensure timely issuance by issuing bodies. A European system of granular GOs will help accelerate electricity system decarbonisation by sending more accurate price signals and enabling robust verification of green hydrogen and green electricity claims. This will support and accelerate Europe’s ambition to be the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
The signatories said that by acting swiftly, the EU has the opportunity to establish global leadership in energy market innovation and advance toward a truly sustainable future.