Final Report Summary - RusTREC (Renewable energy certificates as instrument to monitor and stimulate RE development in Russia)
The overall aim of 'Renewable energy certificates as instrument to monitor and stimulate renewable energy development in Russia' (RusTREC) is to assist the development of a Green Certificate System in the Russian Federation. The interest in Russia for Green Certification was brought to light by their excellent cooperation during the FP5 project 'Tradable renewable energy certificate knowledge & initiatives network (TRECKIN), finished in 2003. As a result, the voluntary international TRECKIN network was created with the Russian Group as a part.
The development of renewable energy will have the benefits of an environmentally acceptable resource of energy, which will decrease the dependency between regions. Also, cooperation with the EU will bring benefits, because Russia and the EU have much to offer to each other, in terms of intellectual and material resources. Green Certification, an instrument that links each produced unit of green energy to a certificate, helps to reach these benefits:
- monitoring will become easy, supporting the market and the decision makers at high level;
- the certificates can be an instrument for the government to support the development of renewable energy sources, through obligations or incentives.
In the first option, Green Certificates are only a monitoring instrument. The second case is an extension of this. The instrument can then lead to trade, because exchange of certificates will create flexibility, to exploit renewable energy on the best place, instead of realising it in the region where the obligation/support is in force. The first option is already a valid objective in itself and not so dependent on political and market circumstances as the second option, and this is less risky to find obstacles. Therefore, it is a good first target. The second objective may be developed in parallel, or later if other political and market issues have to be solved first.
High officials expressed, during the TRECKIN project, the need for further help in the following areas:
training for decision makers;
- workshops to adapt the certificate system to Russian conditions;
- actions to harmonise the Russian certificate system to the W-European market and cooperate;
- use of Green Certificates as an adaptor between renewable energy (RE) and joint implementation (JI, Kyoto);
- heat certification (in addition to the established certification of electrical energy).
The project success consists mainly in creation of the green certificates concept for Russia, embedding its basic points in the draft federal law on renewable energy sources (RES) support and establishing close contacts between the Russian stakeholders and RECS International.
The development of renewable energy will have the benefits of an environmentally acceptable resource of energy, which will decrease the dependency between regions. Also, cooperation with the EU will bring benefits, because Russia and the EU have much to offer to each other, in terms of intellectual and material resources. Green Certification, an instrument that links each produced unit of green energy to a certificate, helps to reach these benefits:
- monitoring will become easy, supporting the market and the decision makers at high level;
- the certificates can be an instrument for the government to support the development of renewable energy sources, through obligations or incentives.
In the first option, Green Certificates are only a monitoring instrument. The second case is an extension of this. The instrument can then lead to trade, because exchange of certificates will create flexibility, to exploit renewable energy on the best place, instead of realising it in the region where the obligation/support is in force. The first option is already a valid objective in itself and not so dependent on political and market circumstances as the second option, and this is less risky to find obstacles. Therefore, it is a good first target. The second objective may be developed in parallel, or later if other political and market issues have to be solved first.
High officials expressed, during the TRECKIN project, the need for further help in the following areas:
training for decision makers;
- workshops to adapt the certificate system to Russian conditions;
- actions to harmonise the Russian certificate system to the W-European market and cooperate;
- use of Green Certificates as an adaptor between renewable energy (RE) and joint implementation (JI, Kyoto);
- heat certification (in addition to the established certification of electrical energy).
The project success consists mainly in creation of the green certificates concept for Russia, embedding its basic points in the draft federal law on renewable energy sources (RES) support and establishing close contacts between the Russian stakeholders and RECS International.
