Last year, in Latvia, only 5.8% of the total electricity sold received a guarantee of origin that energy was produced from renewable energy sources or in a highly efficient cogeneration process, while only 15.1% of the electricity without guarantee of origin was actually of “green” origin, 66.7% was produced from fossil energy resources, but the share of nuclear energy in the structure of electricity consumed in Latvia was 18%, according to the calculation published by the Latvian transmission system operator AS Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST).

“The low use of guarantees of origin compared to neighbouring or other European countries is because AST only started issuing guarantees of origin at the end of last year, on 1 December. This year demonstrates that the process has moved, traders have become more active and increasingly use the opportunity to prove the origin of electricity to their customers if it is demanded by the customers (both the companies for marketing purposes and individual consumers who thus wish to mitigate their personal impact on climate change),” explains Aigars Sīlis, Head of Data Analysis of AST.

The AST calculation for the composition of uncertified energy as an issuer of guarantees of origin for 2020 was performed for the first time in accordance with the requirements of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB). The results of the calculation are published on the AST website in the section Guarantees of Origin.

The composition of uncertified electricity origin can be characterised as the total structure of the electricity origin consumed in the country per year, excluding the consumed electricity for which guarantees of origin have been used. In the course of the calculation, the composition of Latvia's uncertified electricity includes both Latvian generation, for which certificates of origin have not been issued, and electricity imported from third countries and Europe, which has no proven origin. In addition to the composition of the origin of uncertified electricity, its characteristic environmental parameters have also been determined, i.e., the amount of CO2 emissions and radioactive waste.

The calculation of the composition of the origin of uncertified electricity is necessary because the electricity traders are not obliged to use the guarantees of origin in full to prove the origin of the electricity supplied to end-users. In accordance with European Directive 2019/944, electricity distributors shall provide their customers with information on the origin of the electricity consumed at the product level and only at the end of 2020 was AST designated as the body performing the official calculation of the composition of uncertified electricity origin. The informal calculation and publication of the composition of the uncertified electricity origin for all European countries is performed by AIB based on the Eurostat data.

The calculation of AS Augstsprieguma tīkls is performed in cooperation with AIB, using the calculation method of the composition of uncertified electricity origin based on the issued volume, which has been developed by AIB and adopted in the calculation methodology developed by AST.