Make your green electricity offer visible

Since the liberalization of the electricity market, suppliers have been vying with each other with so-called green offers. But what is really behind this adjective, knowing that before arriving in your company, a “green” electron manufactured with a renewable or decarbonized source loses its “color” by mixing with all the others? The Guarantees of Origin (GO) system offers a first level of proof.

The principle: a supplier buys guarantees of origin for the amount of electricity consumed by its green electricity customers: 1 GO for 1 MWh purchased. Guarantees of origin are dematerialized securities sold on a dedicated market by producers of renewable electricity, serving as proof that their electrons have indeed been fed into the grid.

But then, this supplier has to source electricity to satisfy its customers, and it doesn’t necessarily buy electricity from the renewable producers in question! Or at the same time!

What does the Vertvolt label guarantee?

To remedy this shortcoming, the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) has created the VertVolt label. Among other things, it requires the purchase of green electricity and associated GOs from the same producer, a French one at that.

The label is also based on the principle that the greenest electron is the one we don’t consume: to obtain it, we need to encourage energy sobriety and efficiency.

Two levels of commitment have been defined and embodied in the graphic signature: “committed” (the supplier composes its offer by contracting with well-identified producers) and “very committed” (offer composed of more than 25% with producers whose facilities built after 2015 have not benefited from public support, or who have placed their company under shared governance).

And as an option, “nuclear-free”: here, the supplier waives its right to access ARENH, a scheme that gives it access, at a regulated price, to electricity generated by historical nuclear power plants.

Are you an electricity supplier looking for recognition for your commitment and to stand out from the competition? AFNOR Certification has been commissioned by Ademe to carry out the certification audit.