At the end of January, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine presented a new register of biomethane guarantees of origin. The history of the development of such a register dates back to the fall of 2021, when Law No. 1820-IX "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Development of Biomethane Production" and Government Resolution No. 823 "On Approval of the Procedure for the Functioning of the Biomethane Register" were adopted, which introduced concepts as a register and biomethane guarantees of origin into the legislation. In addition, the development of a register is part of the implementation of Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).
What are the biomethane guarantees of origin? Basically, it is a document that confirms that biomethane is produced from biomass and contains information about its volume supplied to the gas transmission or gas distribution systems. To obtain such a document, the producer will submit the required information to the register on a monthly basis. Within twelve business days, he will receive a guarantee of origin for free, which will include information on:
- the country of origin and the guarantee's identification number
- date of formation and expiration of its validity, which may not exceed one year
- the producer's account number, its name and production facility location with EIC codes
- gas month of supply and total volume of biomethane supplied to the gas transmission/gas distribution system
- name of the raw material from which biomethane is produced and data on the amount of impurities
- a note on the audit of the monthly volume of biomethane
Such guarantees of origin will be transferred under the sale and purchase agreement if the entire volume of biomethane is sold, but in this case, the parties must record this in their accounts in the register. If the consumer has fully consumed the biomethane for which the guarantee of origin has been issued, the consumer must submit an application for its cancellation. After that, the registry administrator will issue a certificate of origin of biomethane to such a consumer.
In addition, biomethane production activities and their facilities will be audited in the following cases
- when a producer creates an account in the register
- when a producer modernizes such production facilities.
An independent auditor will audit the volume of biomethane production supplied to the gas transmission/gas distribution system for a certain period of time at the request of biomethane producers and consumers.
The introduction of such a register is certainly a positive step for Ukrainian biomethane producers to enter the European market. It is now time for them to be recognized in Europe.
For more information, please contact Asters' Partner Yaroslav Petrov.
