Electricity disclosure 2017

NVE has regulations imposing Norwegian power suppliers to inform customers of the origin of all electricity sold the previous year. This is referred to as an electricity disclosure. Power suppliers that provide GOs may base their disclosure on these.

Without GOs, suppliers must use NVE’s national electricity disclosure. Hence, the national electricity disclosure only affects electricity customers without GOs.

NVEs disclosure calculation is based on European trade of GOs, as well as the European Attribute Mix (EAM)/European residual mix for Norway, as undertaken by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB) (in English).

The electricity disclosure is calculated according to best practice recommendations from the European RE-DISS project (in English).

Calculation of the national electricity disclosure.

Calculation of the national electricity disclosure is based on Norwegian electricity production. In 2017, 149.3 TWh was produced in Norway. Renewable energy constituted 146.1 TWh, of which 143 TWh was hydropower, 2.1 THw wind power and 0.2 TWh thermal power from biofuels. Fossil thermal production constituted 3.2 TWh. Hence, Norwegian production of electricity is mainly renewable (98% in 2017).

The national electricity disclosure has a different composition than the actual production mix as it takes trading of GOs into consideration. In that way, one avoids double counting of the renewable attributes in the disclosure. When a producer has sold a GO for renewable energy separately from actual production, this electricity source cannot be declared as renewable to the customer. GOs issued in Norwegian energy production are mainly sold abroad, providing an extra source of income for Norwegian renewable energy suppliers.

GOs are valid for one year after the production period ends and are sellable to both Norwegian and foreign customers after the electricity disclosure calculation period. In 2017, GOs for 140,9 TWh were issued in Norway. When calculating the electricity disclosure, issued GOs are subtracted from the renewable proportion in the disclosure and replaced by a composition equivalent to the «European Attribute Mix» (European residual mix). Expired GOs are added. GOs used in Norwegian contracts are taken into account.

Total consumption and loss in transmission in the Norwegian grid comprised 134.1 TWh in 2017. Since GOs worth 25,4 TWh were redeemed in Norway in 2017, the volume of electricity not bought with GOs amounts to 108.7 TWh. The electricity disclosure unveils the composition of energy sources for such customers. 19 % GOs were redeemed in the energy market in Norway in 2017. After ‘known attributes’ are recorded in the electricity disclosure, i.e. Norwegian production without or expired GOs, ‘undisclosed’ energy production that is replaced by the European residual mix amounts to 96.1 TWh.

Further methods of calculation may be found here (in Norwegian).

What is a Guarantee of Origin (GO)?

A GO is a guarantee that a certain amount of renewable energy is produced at a specific power station. The guarantee is supporting evidence that a customer has reserved production of renewable energy equivalent to consumption.

Read more about GOs here (in Norwegian).

Calculation method for the electricity disclosure in 2017

CO2 emissions and radioactive waste

CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions from power production depend on the energy source used for production (e.g. coal, gas or water). In AIBs calculation of a European residual mix, the following CO2 emission factors (in equivalents) per production technology have been used. These are based on life cycle assessments (LCA), and include upstream and downstream effects in the entire value chain of power production:
Biogas:            176 g/kWh      
Gas:                566 g/kWh
Wind:               20 g/kWh
Hydro:             6 g/kWh

If these emission factors are applied to Norwegian power production in 2017, the CO2 emission factor is estimated at 16,4 g/kWh in 2017.

The following emission figures are calculated only for use together with the electricity disclosure, as the RE-DISS project uses trade in GOs when calculating the disclosure.

The estimated emissions from the electricity disclosure is 531 g/kWh CO2. This does not reflect emissions related to Norwegian generation of electricity, but used in connection with electricity and CO2 emissions within the schemes of disclosure and GOs. This is based on calculations by AIB and the methodology of the RE-DISS project. Radioactive waste (RW) is calculated to be 0.81 mg RW/KWh.

According to the World Energy Outlook 2013 published by IEA (International Energy Agency), the world production mix had an estimated CO2 emission factor of 532 g/kWh in 2011, while the EU production mix in 2011 had an estimated CO2 emission factor of 345 g/kWh.

Information can also be found in Norwegian: Electricity Disclosure 2017.