EKOenergy from on-site installations and PPAs

Renewable energy can carry the EKOenergy ecolabel when EKOenergy’s criteria are fulfilled, regardless of how the energy is bought or procured.

We see growing interest from consumers in using our label for renewable energy that they buy via Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or that they are producing on-site. Hereafter we outline the conditions needed to use our label on these sources of energy.

Consumers who are considering using EKOenergy’s name and logo in their communications can find more information on our logo in your communication page. In particular, we recommend you read EKOenergy’s brand book.

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)

Renewable energy purchased through a PPA contract can be labelled as EKOenergy under the following conditions:

• At least one of the directly involved contract parties (energy supplier, service provider, installation company, consumer, etc) has signed the EKOenergy Agreement.
• All the obligations outlined in the EKOenergy Agreement and in EKOenergy’s criteria have been fulfilled. This includes the appointment of a contact person, the payment of the EKOenergy fee (0.08€/MWh), and the payment of the contribution to our Climate Fund (0.10€/MWh). For hydropower, an extra 0.10 €/MWh needs to be paid to EKOenergy’s Environmental Fund. See our pages on electricity, gas and heat for more information.

EKOenergy ecolabel for energy from on-site installations

Energy that is produced on-site, e.g. with roof-top PV panels, can carry the EKOenergy ecolabel.

By adding the EKOenergy label to kilowatt-hours that are produced and consumed on-site, consumers

• show that they think globally & act locally,
• help us promote renewable energy use worldwide,
• contribute to financing off-grid solar in developing countries,
• can use our internationally recognised logo in their communications.

For more information about using the logo in your communications, refer to EKOenergy’s brand book.

General rules for adding our label to on-site produced energy

• Our sustainability criteria have to be fulfilled. For on-site solar, this means that the installation is roof-top, or located outside important nature areas. See our pages on electricity, gas and heat for more information.
• If consumers annually use less than 200 MWh of on-site produced electricity, they must inform the EKOenergy Secretariat in order to use EKOenergy’s name and logo. There is no additional cost, but contacting the EKOenergy Secretariat beforehand is necessary, and a voluntary payment to our Climate Fund is highly recommended – as it helps finance renewable energy projects in the developing world.
• If the consumer annually uses more than 200 MWh of on-site produced electricity, the user has to make a minimum contribution of 0.10 €/MWh to EKOenergy’s Climate Fund. In the case of hydropower, another contribution of 0.10 €/MWh has to be made to our Environmental Fund.
• If the annual consumption of electricity produced onsite is higher than 1000 MWh, the user has to sign our EKOenergy Agreement or has to involve an authorized EKOenergy seller. In this case, a contribution of 0.08 € EKOenergy fee should be paid per MWh in addition to the 0.10 € contribution per MWh to EKOenergy’s Climate Fund. (An additional 0.10 € per MWh to our Environmental Fund, in the case of hydropower.)

EKOenergy’s authorised sellers or service providers can represent several users of on-site produced energy, serve as a contact point between them and the EKOenergy Secretariat, compile proofs of the produced and consumed volumes, and collect the above-mentioned payments. In this case, contributions need to be paid for the total volumes of the consumers represented by the authorised entity, meaning that smaller volumes will also be combined and taken into account as a whole.

If the on-site installation is grid-connected, the following additional requirements apply:

• If the consumer doesn’t work with an authorised aggregator or service provider, the user must have an EKOenergy-labelled electricity contract for the place where the renewable energy installation is located, whenever this is an option.
• No Energy Attribute Certificates (e.g. Guarantees of Origin) can be issued for the volumes that are used on-site. If such certificates have been issued anyway, they need to be redeemed on behalf of the consumer to cover the on-site consumption. This is necessary to avoid the possibility of double counting.
• If the grid-connected system has a backward counting meter (net metering), the EKOenergy ecolabel cannot be used for electricity that has been added to the grid unless the owner can prove that nobody has issued Energy Attribute Certificates for that production, or that these tracking certificates have been redeemed on behalf of the consumer.