PRCH: White certificates – new opportunities and possibilities to support energy-saving investments.

White certificates – new opportunities and possibilities to support energy-saving investments.
On October 1, 2016, an amendment to the Law on
Energy Efficiency, which has been in effect since 2012, came into force with the aim of bringing Polish legislation in line with the provisions of
the European Union directive and the changing business and economic conditions.
The law provides for a number of new obligations, but also a palette of previously unavailable
opportunities related to improving the energy efficiency of the economy, which Poland
is obliged to do, and which can be implemented by companies or
public administration units.
One of the tools for supporting investments that improve the efficiency of energy consumption is
a system of energy efficiency certificates, commonly known as “white certificates.”
In a nutshell, this system consists in the possibility of obtaining the above-mentioned
certificates for the energy savings
achieved in the enterprise thanks to the realized or planned investment. The resulting certificates can be liquidated through transactions
on the Polish Power Exchange and thus provide an additional source of financing
investments.
Last year’s amendment introduces many changes from the previous law,
below I will cite a few of them:

• Replacing the tenders
  announced by the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) from time to time for obtaining white certificates with a system of continuous call for applications with a 45-day
  deadline for the ERO to issue a decision. This change greatly simplifies and simplifies
  the acquisition of certificates, and also defines – not insignificantly – the timeframe within
  which an investor can acquire certificates
• Allowing companies that are participants in the
  European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to participate in the support system
• Enabling the acquisition of certificates for projects already implemented (completed
  between 1.1.2014 and 30.09.2016)
• enabling the acquisition of certificates for projects that have already received
  partial support from public funds
• Enabling the acquisition of certificates for projects yet to be planned – the condition
  for obtaining support is to perform an energy efficiency audit of the project and
  submit an application to the ERO for the issuance of white certificates before proceeding with
  investment. This is important because the ERO already considers the signing
  of a contract with a contractor or the execution of orders for its implementation as the “start of the investment.”
  The most important element of the procedure for obtaining energy efficiency certificates
  is the conduct of an energy efficiency audit. From the professional implementation of this part
  of the procedure depends not only on the correct determination of the number of white certificates possible
  to obtain (while this number may depend on the correct and insightful look at
  savings not only directly resulting from the solutions used, but also those,
  that are potentially generated by other equipment in the enterprise as a result
  of the modernization activities carried out), but also the fact that a professionally performed
  energy efficiency audit protects the investor from the risks that arise from the law, and
  that may occur as a result of improper implementation of the audit, that is:
• the need to redeem at the ERO certificates issued without coverage in
  realized savings
• Potential penalty (up to 10% of the company’s turnover in the year prior to
  submissions)
• a ban on applying for certificates for the next 5 years
  It should be noted here that some professional companies involved in
  performing audits and consulting on obtaining white certificates are
  able to take some of these risks on themselves by “replacing” the investor in
  activities directly related to obtaining and then selling on the white market
  certificates. This approach also guarantees the ability to get the best price for white
  certificates on the market.
  Use the professional services of companies that perform audits
  Energy efficiency also provides other opportunities – very often experience in
  implementation of such work results in greater awareness of what projects can
  be the subject of applying for white certificates – in practice, it is very common that
  people implementing investments overlook such an opportunity due to lack of awareness of the possibility
  of using the support system.
  Another added value is the potential opportunity to benefit from a support system for
  projects that do not meet the minimum level of savings achieved (this
  is 10 tons of oil equivalent – equivalent to about 116 MWh of savings per year).
  In fact, according to the law, there is the possibility of “aggregation” of projects of the same nature – companies
  engaged in obtaining certificates for their clients often have a database
  of projects, which opens up the possibility of obtaining additional
  funding even for smaller projects.
  Examples of projects for which white certificates can be obtained are:
• Replacement of lighting with energy-efficient lighting – in this case, even a small reduction in
  lighting power leads – with a long period of use – to savings that
  allow to obtain white certificates
• Optimization of the operation of air conditioning, ventilation and heating equipment – starting
  from measures obvious for older installations such as replacing compressor equipment
  with devices with so-called free-cooling, and ending with new installations, where
  additional devices can be introduced – such as heat pumps – allowing
  to optimize the operation of the system, and thus achieve large savings in the consumption of
  electricity and heat.
• Installation of a system for monitoring and control of energy consumption at a detailed level –
  monitoring of energy consumption not by the entire installation, but by individual receivers, which
  allows not only for better management of energy consumption (including water, heat and gas), but
  enables better management of assets – allows you to compare energy
  consumption of similar devices in different locations and thus assess their use
  or the possibility of finding a fault, which in turn allows you to improve the management of issues
  repairs or repairs or better plan the schedule of replacement of equipment. In extreme
  cases, such systems make it possible to detect abuses in the work of a particular branch of the company
  By monitoring energy consumption…
  In addition to the direct effect of reducing
  bills, improving energy use can also serve image purposes and indirectly influence
  competitiveness in, for example, the rental market for facilities such as shopping malls or
  warehouse premises, which become
  more attractive to tenants by reducing energy use charges.
  Finally, it should be noted that the white certificate system will
  most likely be maintained until 2030 due to the already announced plans by the
  European Union to extend the
  efficiency targets for member countries while increasing the target to 30%.
  Remember – the cheapest energy is the one saved.