Introduction
The Taiwan Renewable Energy Certificate (T-REC) is launched in 2017 in Taiwan, and the renewble energy trade was initiated in May 2020, with 90.4 MW of capacity being traded in the first batch.
Basic information
-
Validity period: one year
-
Issuing body: National Renewable Energy Certification Center
-
Issuing region: Taiwan
-
Number of certificates issued: 958,176 (as of February 14, 2022)
-
Calculation method: Calculate power generation from the power generators and issue the certificate; calculate the power consumption from the user end and issue the certificate.
-
Tracking unit: National Renewable Energy Certification Center
Operating cycle
Each T-REC can only be transferred once. There are currently three types of power plants in Taiwan. Type 1 power plants are allowed to sell electricity, whereas Type 2 and 3 are self-consumption power plants. Based on the different natures, the market mechanism of T-REC is divided into two types.
Type 1 power plants
Type 1 power plants adopt the electricity-certificate bundled mode. Since the Type 1 power plant is allowed to sell electricity, it will directly supply or wheel green energy to the enterprise that has signed a power purchase agreement, and sell the certificate to the company along with electricity. The calculation of certificates is based on power received by power users. For example, a power plant intends to transfer 10,000 kWh of green energy to user A, but the actual energy transferred to user A is only 9,000 kWh due to some factors, so user A can only receive 9 T-RECs. The company is not allowed to resell the certificate because the power plant has already sold it to the company before.
Type 2 and 3 power plants
The difference between Type 2 and 3 power plants lies in the capacity, and the similarity is that they cannot sell electricity, meaning both of them are self-consumption. Therefore, the Type 2 and 3 power plants can obtain and sell the certificate after delivering green electricity, but the electricity is not sold together with the certificate. This method is called the electricity-certificate unbundled method. The third party who bought the certificate cannot resell the certificate because it has been previously sold by the power plant.
Purchase method
Enterprises or entities can buy an electricity-certificate bundled T-REC through signing an agreement for direct power supply or wheeling with renewable energy generators or suppliers, with the price determined in the agreement.
For purchasing only T-RECs, enterprises or entities can participate in bidding or matching in the National Renewable Energy Certification Center.
Certificate price
The price of T-RECs is not fixed and is determined by the result of trading or bidding. The trading prices over the years have not made public.
Benefits of the certificate
Several organizations have publicly recognized the benefits of T-RECs:
- Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)
- Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
- RE100
- ISO 14064-1:2018