Documents
I. INTRODUCTION
This is the Green-e National Standard for Renewable Electricity Products in all regions of the United States. The following criteria apply to all Green-e certified products (Renewable Energy Certificates, utility green pricing programs, and competitive market electricity products). Additional details about the Green-e certification criteria, the application process, verification protocol, marketing compliance review, etc. can be found in the Green-e Code of Conduct and Customer Disclosure Requirements, available on our website www.green-e.org.
II. ELIGIBLE SOURCES OF SUPPLY
A. Definition of Eligible Renewables
The following types of renewable energy are eligible to supply Green-e certified products:
1) Solar Electric;
2) Wind;
3) Geothermal;
4) Hydropower from new generation capacity on a non-impoundment or new generation capacity on an existing impoundment that meets one or more of the following conditions:a) The hydropower facility is certified by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute;
b) The facility is a run-of-the-river hydropower facility with a total rated nameplate capacity equal to or less than 5 MW. Multiple turbines will not be counted separately and cannot add up to more than a 5 MW nameplate capacity; or
c) The hydropower facility consists of a turbine in a pipeline or a turbine in an irrigation canal.
The Board will consider on a case-by-case basis new incremental capacity on an existing dam, where the "new" output is equal to or less than 5 megawatts.
Green-e will not certify renewables from new impoundments of water.
Green-e will consider adopting ocean-based resources and will review these technologies as they mature and as practical application reaches near term.
5) Solid, liquid, and gaseous forms of Biomass from the following fuels:
a) All woody waste;1
b) All agricultural crops or waste;
c) All animal and other organic waste;
d) All energy crops;
e) Landfill gas and wastewater methane; and
f) Municipal Solid Waste is eligible if it is first converted to a clean burning fuel that is then used to generate electricity. The solid waste conversion facility for converting the municipal solid waste to a clean burning fuel must meet the following criteria:
i. The facility uses a non-combustion thermal process to convert the municipal solid waste to a clean burning fuel.
ii. The technology is designed to produce no discharges of air contaminants or emissions, including greenhouse gases.
iii. The technology produces no discharges to surface or groundwaters.
iv. The technology produces no hazardous wastes.
v. To the maximum extent feasible, the technology removes all recyclable materials, including plastics, and marketable green waste compostable materials from the solid waste stream prior to the conversion process and the owner or operator of the facility certifies that those materials will be recycled or composted.
vi. The facility complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.
Third-party verification that an MSW facility has met these criteria is required in order for the electricity or RECs from a facility to be used in a Green-e certified product. The California Energy Commission can provide this verification in California and TerraChoice, an environmental consulting firm, which provides facility verification services (www.terrachoice.com), may be able to provide this service in other regions. Facilities may also petition Green-e to allow an alternative third-party to perform this verification if that party meets appropriate standards.
Biomass resources excluded from eligibility include:
a) Wood that has been coated with paints, plastics, or formica; and
b) Wood that has been treated for preservation with materials containing halogens, chlorine or halide compounds like CCA-treated materials, or arsenic. (CCA = chromated copper arsenate)
Qualified wood fuels may contain de minimis quantities (less than 1% of total wood fuel) of the above excluded contaminates.
6) Biodiesel (B100) that is used to generate electricity is eligible for Green-e. Biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel is permitted if all of the following conditions are met:
a) The biodiesel is separately measured (and verified) from the petroleum diesel; and
b) Contracts are in place to allow CRS to verify that the biodiesel was converted to electricity.
Only the amount of electricity generated from the biodiesel may be counted as part of a Green-e certified product.
7) Fuel cells are eligible only if powered by hydrogen derived from any of the above eligible renewable resources. (see section II.E.7)
B. Co-firing of Biomass with Non-Renewables
Co-firing of eligible forms of biomass with non-renewables is permitted if at least one of the following conditions is met:
1) The facility is located in an electric system control area that makes use of a generation tracking system (e.g., NEGIS, PJM-GATS, WREGIS) that is fully capable of accurately measuring and reporting the differentiated (biomass-fired and non-biomass-fired) electrical output from the facility; or,
2) The biomass is in a gaseous or liquid state, is separately metered and there are contracts in place to verify that the biomass portion was converted to electricity; or
3) Facilities that do not meet either of the criteria above may be eligible subject to a case-by-case review by the Green-e Governance Board. The methodology presented to Green-e must demonstrate that the Btu value of the electrical output from the facility is attributed to the eligible biomass fuel. Some of the criteria that the Board will consider in making a decision are:
a) Whether the facility was modified to accept biomass fuel;
b) Whether there is an independent entity involved in verifying or determining the appropriate measurement; and
c) Whether there is a way to determine and ensure the net electricity increment being sold as "renewable" can be attributed to eligible biomass fuel.
The Board would prefer a verification methodology that is brought forth by the Power Marketers Advisory Committee (PMAC) and Utility Green Pricing Advisory Committee (UGPAC) that could be applied universally.
Only the amount of electricity generated from the eligible biomass may count towards the Green-e criteria.
C. Emissions Limits on Biomass
All facilities must be in compliance with all state and/or federal laws/rules regarding emissions. For facilities subject to New Source Review (NSR), the facility must be compliant with all applicable regional and state standards pertaining to NSR.
D. Emissions Criteria for the Non-Renewable Portion of a Green-e Product
Some renewable electricity products do not meet 100% of a customer's electricity load and/or will contain non-renewable energy. The emission rates per kWh for SO2, NOx, and CO2 from the non-renewable portion of the eligible product may not exceed customer's average utility, state or regional power emissions rates. Rates are calculated from the latest available EPA EGRID data, unless the regional system administrator, PUC or other authority makes more up-to-date information available. The product may not include any specific purchases of nuclear power in the non-renewable portion of the product other than what is contained in any system power purchase (i.e. the product may not include differentiated nuclear power). A utility's or power pool's system mix may be used to satisfy the non-renewable portion of a Green-e certified product.
E. New Renewables
Only new renewables are eligible to meet Green-e standards. The term "new" is defined to include any eligible renewable facility beginning operation or repowered after January 1, 1997. An eligible new renewable generation facility must meet at least one of the following conditions:
1) Placed in operation (generating electricity) on or after January 1, 1997;
2) Repowered on or after January 1, 1997 such that at 80% of the fair market value of the project derives from new generation equipment installed as part of the repowering;
3) A separable improvement to or enhancement of an existing operating facility that was first placed in operation prior to January 1, 1997, such that the proposed incremental generation is contractually available for sale and metered separate from the existing generation at the facility;
4) A biomass co-firing facility that meets all requirements for biomass co-firing outlined in section II.B. above and began co-firing non-eligible fuels with eligible biomass as defined in II.A. above on or after January 1, 1997;
5) A 100 percent switch from a non-eligible fuel to an eligible fuel on or after January 1, 1997;
6) A separately metered landfill gas resource that was not being used to generate electricity prior to January 1, 1997; and/or
7) A fuel cell that began generating electricity on or after January 1, 1997. The hydrogen powering the fuel cell must be derived from a facility that meets the resource eligibility requirements described in section II.A. above. The renewable resource facility that produces the fuel from which the hydrogen is derived does not need to meet the new date criteria but does need to meet Green-e resource definitions (section II.A).
Any enhancement of fuel source that increases generation at an existing facility, without the construction of a new or repowered, separately metered generating unit, is not eligible to participate, with the exception of new landfill gas resources identified in (5) above. An eligible "new renewable" must qualify as an "eligible renewable resource" as described herein.
Please Note: Green-e plans to consider in 2007 adopting a policy articulating the number of years a facility will be treated as "new". We will solicit stakeholder feedback on this issue.
F. Energy Storage
Energy storage systems or plants, including pumped hydroelectric storage, battery storage, compressed air energy storage, superconducting magnetic energy storage, flywheels, and super capacitors, are not energy resources. While each of these storage technologies may play an important future role in managing the delivery of non-dispatchable renewable energy, they are not in themselves a renewable energy resource. Therefore, these storage technologies themselves are not qualifying sources of renewable generation.
G. Parasitic Load
Renewable energy consumed as parasitic load of an eligible facility is not eligible for use in a Green-e certified product. Parasitic load is a load that contributes to the process of electricity generation.
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