White Certificates

In 2013, the Polish government introduced an energy efficiency obligation which targets energy savings of 2 645 Mtoe between 2016 and 2020. The obligation covers all sectors except transport. Electricity, gas and district heating are the fuel targets. Obligated parties include electricity, natural gas and district heating companies selling to final consumers, members of a commodities exchange and commodity brokerage houses.     Eligible energy efficiency measures include a long list of eligible measures based on the Annex of Energy Services Directive (e.g. building fabric; heating system; appliances; lighting; waste heat recovery) excluding behavioural measures.     Savings are based on deemed savings and scaled savings. Energy savings accomplished in energy efficiency projects with average annual energy savings that exceed 100 toe shall ex-post be verified by an energy audit. The audit must not be conducted by the same auditor who carried out the initial audit for the project. Projects that fall below the 100-toe threshold are subject to random sampling verification.    Certificates can be traded via Polish Power Exchange. In the case, obligated parties to not achieve the required amount of savings, penalties of up to 10% of the revenue can be imposed.  There are two secondary regulations: one is a detailed list of projects to improve energy efficiency which was elaborated and approved in 2016 in order to give away white certificates. Second regulation from 2017 specifies scope of an energy efficiency audit.

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