Dutch oil companies generated 2.3mn renewable energy units (HBEs), or tickets, for the 2021 compliance year in April-June, up from around 1.4mn in the same period a year earlier, according to the country's emissions authority.
Each gigajoule of renewable energy that companies physically deliver to the Dutch transport sector generates one HBE that fuel suppliers can trade to help achieve their annual obligation. The majority of HBEs issued between 1 April and 1 July — around 1.9mn — were HBE-Gs, which are advanced energy units generated by biofuels that are produced from feedstock listed in Annex IX Part A of the EU's recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) such as agricultural waste and residues. The amount of HBE-Gs generated in the first three months of the 2021 compliance year more than doubled compared with a year earlier as the minimum required share of advanced biofuels in the Netherlands increased to 1.2pc this year, up from 1pc in 2020.
The number of HBE-Os — "other" renewable units that are generated through waste-based biofuels or by selling electricity to charge electric vehicles and are double-counted — was around 400,000, lower by about 100,000 compared with the same period last year. No conventional HBE-Cs, which are generated through blending crop-based biofuels, have been booked into the emissions authority's registry so far this compliance year. Obligated parties have carried over around 12mn HBEs from the 2020 compliance year, of which 7.6mn were HBE-Gs and 4.2mn were HBE-Os.
The overall blending target in the Netherlands has increased to 17.5pc in 2021, from 16.4pc in 2020. HBE prices have been rising consistently in the past few months on the back of growing demand for road fuels, with HBE-Gs going up from €13.30/GJ in April to €15.60/GJ in June.
Last week the Netherlands adopted RED II in its Senate, implementing it in Dutch law.
