Eneco

Eneco has been active in the energy sector for over 100 years and is currently operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. They work to make sustainable energy available for all and aim to become climate neutral in 2035 together with their customers.

In their project with Flexidao, they wanted to:

• Learn how data related to electricity production and consumption from different systems can be combined.
• Test how time-based green power certification can be integrated into the existing legal system of EACs/GOs.
• Accelerate the energy transition by offering certifiable green energy in an hourly base.

Eneco's main goal was to ensure its district heating electricity remained clean every hour of every day in accordance with EU, Dutch renewable energy certification, and EnergyTag guidelines. This project builds on a previous collaboration between Eneco and Microsoft, certifying the hourly electricity consumption of a data center in the Netherlands.

Using innovative Granular Certificates (GCs), which are time-stamped Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs, or GOs), this initiative also tested the feasibility of hourly energy certification in a real-life setting, aligning with current EnergyTag standards. EnergyTag, an independent global initiative, strives to establish a market for hourly certificates, providing a carbon accounting methodology that better reflects the power grid's physical reality.

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Flexidao's software established a digital connection for real-time monitoring of Eneco's offshore wind farm and Eneco's electrode boiler, which is integrated into The Hague's Ypenburg district heating network. The measurement data provided by Eneco supports this process. CertiQ holds the legal responsibility for certifying electricity and renewable heat.

Eneco's crucial efforts bring maximum transparency to stakeholders.

The current GO system does not take into account that in some hours the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, and so in reality customers will not be supplied by renewable energy even if they are on an annual green contract. For this reason, hourly energy production and consumption accounting are crucial for companies seeking greater transparency in their CO2 footprint.

Certifying power-to-heat solutions aims to address the lack of visibility concerning the origin of heat in a district heating network. Utilizing otherwise wasted heat for district heating aligns with the circular economy concept, but the certification of the power source behind the heat lacks transparency. The collaborating organizations will bridge this gap with time-stamped GCs.

The benefits of this project are:

• By following EnergyTag's guidelines for issuing Granular Certificates, this project sets the first real-world example of a power-to-heat initiative doing so.
• It offers private customers and companies more accurate insights into the carbon-content of their electricity consumption.
• It allows consumers to make better-informed choices regarding which electricity they want to use
• It provides a platform for companies to make their sustainability ambitions even more explicit and signal true climate leadership.

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