This document discusses green electricity procurement in public procurement. It outlines several models for green electricity offers, including a supply model where electricity is contractually supplied from renewable sources. It also discusses challenges around additionality and the need for verification. Two case studies from Germany are presented: renewable energy procurement guidelines from Baden-Württembert based on criteria from the German "ok-power" label, and guidelines from the German Federal Environment Agency that define emission reduction calculations and plant age requirements. The document concludes that green electricity procurement is already occurring and can be environmentally beneficial when the right criteria are included.

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The (special) role of Green Electricity in
Green Public Procurement
Dominik Seebach (d.seebach@oeko.de)
Boosting Sustainable Energy Supply & Efficiency
through Smart Public Tendering
GPP 2020 Webinar, 15 June 2015

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Background for "green" RES-E markets
● Internal Electricity Market (IEM) Directive:
All consumers should be allowed to freely choose their electricity
supplier based on price, fuel mix or other criteria
● Renewables (RES) Directive:
‒ Guarantees of Origin (GOs) are established as a (but from a EU legal
perspective not necessarily the only) instrument for accounting a specific
RES-E supply by an electricity supplier towards an end-consumer
‒ GOs include information e.g. on production plant, fuel, production period,
level of support, plant age, …
 All (non-domestic) consumers should be able to choose their
electricity supply also based on ecologic criteria
● Challenge: straight-forward purchase of RES-E does not include a
benefit for the environment
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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Existing RES-E production in Europe
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900 1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
[TWh]
Renewable Electricity Production (EU27+CH+NO)
Other
Solar
Geothermal
Wind
Biomass
Hydro
Source: Calculations Öko-Institut, based on Eurostat 2012

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How to deal with this "additionality challenge"?
● Options:
‒ Neglect ; or
‒ Apply specific "additionality" criteria
● E.g. specific focus on new plants and no public support; or also strong
"ecological criteria" (e.g. for ecological improvement of hydro)
● Legal requirement for tendering procedure: ecologic tendering criteria
have to refer to the electricity product
 no criteria possible which refers solely to the supplying company
(e.g. may not be the owner of a nuclear power plant)
● Possible green electricity approaches:
‒ Supply model with new unsupported plants, or long-term PPAs,
‒ (Funds model)
‒ (Initiation model)
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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Typical models for "green electricity offers":
Supply model
"copper plate"
Generation Consumption
phys. power flow
contractual supply
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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€
Typical models for "green electricity offers":
Funds model
"copper plate"
Generation Consumption
phys. power flow
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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How to define an ambitious green electricity offer?
● Criteria:
‒ Criteria of green electricity labels could give orientation
‒ In some countries also green electricity tendering guidelines exist
‒ Ecological criteria can be defined as qualification criteria or be weighted
against price for purchase decision
● Besides ecological criteria, also verification procedure has to be
clarified
‒ GOs are available in most European markets, and can be used (by
suppliers or in some countries even directly by a large consumer) for
documentation of specific criteria (particularly in the supply model)
‒ Advice: require third party audit (based on GO cancellation)
‒ Labels could be an alternative (but not mandatory) way of verification
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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Show case 1:
RES-E Procurement Guidelines Baden-Württemberg
● Currently in draft status at the Regional Office for Environment of the
German Federal State Baden-Württemberg
● Based on criteria of the German "ok-power" label for green electricity
● Criteria:
‒ Contractual supply of 100% RES-E
‒ Age requirements for production plants for each year of supply:
● At least 66% coming from plants < 12 yrs, of which at least 33% < 6yrs
‒ Electricity should not have received public support
● Verification:
‒ Third party audit, based on cancellation statement of eligible GOs
‒ Alternatively: existing ok-power certification (which covers all above
requirements)
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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Show case 2:
German Federal Environment Agency
● Issued by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
‒ "Beschaffung von Ökostrom – Arbeitshilfe für eine europaweite
Ausschreibung der Lieferung von Ökostrom im offenen Verfahren"
● Criteria (amongst others):
‒ Contractual supply of 100% RES-E
‒ Calculatory reduction of GHG-emissions by supply from specific plants
 Guidelines include a table (for Germany) for applicable emission reduction
factors per fuel as compared to national reference emissions.
‒ Emission reductions may be accounted for depending on plant age
● New plants: 100%, <6yrs: 50%; <12yrs: 25%
‒ Based on this table, procurers can define either a minimum reduction, or
define a weighting against the price
Green Electricity│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 May 2015

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Priority setting to reduce carbon footprint
Green Electricity in GPP│Dominik Seebach│GPP 2020 Webinar│15 June 2015
Efficiency / Savings
CO2-Reduction
Greening
Compen-
sation
Climate neutrality

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Conclusions
● Procurement of Green Electricity
‒ is already taking place
‒ can be environmentally beneficial (taking special criteria
into account) and thus be an element of responsible
governance
‒ is technically, ecologically and legally feasible
● The greenest electricity is electricity which is not
consumed at all!

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Thank you for your attention!
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