The green power certificate, referred to as the “green certificate”, is an “electronic ID card” for green power issued by renewable energy power generation enterprises to prove and account for the power generation and use of renewable energy.At present, more than 20 countries such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia have implemented a green card trading system.On July 1, 2017, the national Green Power Certificate subscription trading Platform operated by the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center officially launched the voluntary subscription mechanism for green certificates.

Unlike the main motivations under the international green certificate system to promote enterprises to complete mandatory quota targets and fulfill corporate or individual social responsibilities, the introduction of our country's green certificate system is not only to promote the development of renewable energy and ensure that our country's commitment under the Paris Agreement will reach the goals of 15% and 20% of primary energy consumption by 2020 and 2030, respectively. The proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption is about 15% and 20%, respectively, and there are also important policy reasons to alleviate the national renewable energy subsidy gap.

Judging from the statistics, since the launch of the green certificate transaction, the subscription rate has been low and the market transaction has not been active. This is closely related to the policy background of the introduction of the green certificate system in our country and the design of the system itself.However, with the “renewable energy power consumption responsibility weight” under the renewable energy power consumption guarantee mechanism officially entering the assessment stage from January 1, 2020, and more and more domestic companies that have joined the RE100 initiative choose to purchase green power in order to achieve their commitment to 100% use of renewable energy, we believe that the trend of green certificate transactions in the future will gradually shift from the buyer's market to the seller's market, and gradually form a healthy balance between supply and demand.

Basic introduction and problems of China's green card system

According to the “Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Energy Administration on the Pilot Implementation of the Renewable Energy Green Power Certificate Issuance and Voluntary Subscription Transaction System” (Issue and Reform Energy [2017] No. 132), the official definition of China's green certificate is "an electronic certificate with a unique identification code issued by the state for each megawatt-hour of non-water renewable energy on-line electricity generated by power generation enterprises, the confirmation and attribute certificate of non-water renewable energy power generation and the only certificate for the consumption of green electricity."In simple terms, a green certificate is a kind of certificate that can be traded and can be redeemed as monetary income. It confirms the renewable energy power generation method of the electricity carried on the certificate and records which specific onshore wind power station or photovoltaic centralized power station in our country this part of the on-line power comes from.

According to Circular No. 132, the Green Bank has a voluntary subscription system. The subscription price is based on the amount of additional capital subsidy for renewable energy electricity prices that are not higher than the electricity corresponding to the certificate, and the buyers and sellers shall confirm it through self-negotiation or through bidding. Two methods.Government agencies, institutions, social institutions and individuals at all levels can act as buyers of green certificates.After wind power and photovoltaic companies sell their green certificates, the corresponding electricity will no longer enjoy subsidies from the additional funds of the national renewable energy electricity price.The original intention of Circular 132 was to solve the financial pressure of photovoltaic and wind power projects, especially photovoltaic and wind power projects that have entered the first seven batches of national renewable energy electricity price additional fund subsidy catalogs.Since the subsidy funds for photovoltaic and wind power projects cannot be fully implemented in the short term, if the green certificate corresponding to the subsidized electricity can be successfully sold and the price is close to the subsidy, then the project owner can quickly repay the money through the green certificate transaction, optimize cash flow, and reduce the financial cost of the enterprise.For the government, the market-oriented means of the voluntary subscription system for green certificates has helped to alleviate the pressure on national financial subsidies and the current situation of subsidy arrears to a certain extent.In addition, the voluntary subscription mechanism of the green certificate can also accumulate corresponding experience and lay a certain foundation for subsequent compulsory green certificate transactions.

Regarding the qualifications of buyers and sellers of green certificates, transaction methods, pricing methods, application and transaction processes, etc., my country has established a complete set of mechanisms, which will not be repeated here.But there are also some problems in the practice of the green card system：

Conclusion

The original intention of the introduction of our country's green certificate system is not only to integrate with international standards, but to solve the implementation dilemma of new energy subsidy policies.At present, our country's green certificate system is not yet mature, and there are certain problems in the issuance and transaction of green certificates, and its economic and social utility is therefore subject to certain constraints.However, with the introduction of the domestic renewable energy consumption guarantee mechanism, the promotion of related supporting policies, the opening up of green card transactions for affordable and low-cost projects, and the support of multinational companies and large domestic enterprises for the use of renewable energy initiatives, we have reason to believe that the green card system will tend to improve, green card transactions will grow rapidly, and our country will truly usher in the “green card era”.