Greece to fully enter EU GOO market in early 2021

Greek guarantees of origin (GOOs) will become fully compatible with their European counterparts in the first few months of next year, allowing them to be traded within the wider European market, Greek renewable market operator Dapeep chairman Giannis Giarentis said.

Dapeep will soon join the European Energy Certificate System's (EECS) online hub, operated by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB), Giarentis said. Dapeep will remain the sole issuer of GOOs for output from renewable and combined heat and power (CHP) plants in mainland Greece and interconnected islands.

Dapeep registered under the EECS in November last year, which was one of the prerequisites of full GOO compatibility with the rest of Europe. The operator also became a full member of the AIB upon registration, having upgraded from an observer status.

Dapeep has run a GOO management system since 2010 but the lack of compatibility meant Greek GOOs could only be traded domestically.

Dapeep's full integration should boost the trade of Greek GOOs and increase their prices, market participants said. But traded prices of Greek GOOs are expected to remain lower than their European counterparts.

Greek GOOs are expected to continue to be traded through brokered deals. Dapeep and the Greek energy ministry explored the idea of a GOO trade on domestic energy exchange Henex, but the project is immature at this stage, participants said.

Latvia is the latest country set to join the European GOO market. The country's transmission system operator AST will join the scheme from 1 December 2020 with an import-only status.

By Bilal Muftuoglu