Full-scale implementation of carbon certification system from June in Korea

Full-scale implementation of carbon certification system from June in Korea

Carbon certification system, applied to RPS markets and government supply projects

Ministry of Industry and Energy to Prepare Carbon Certification Criteria for May...Full-scale implementation from June

Additional points for government supply projects and additional weighting of RECs

You can choose between the standard emission coefficient evaluation method and the self-evaluation method of the survey.

[G&E Times] "It is also true that the domestic solar power supply is rapidly increasing, and on the other hand, there are questions about whether solar power facilities are truly eco-friendly, low-carbon products."

Yoon Sung-hyuk, director of renewable energy industry at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, made the remarks at a public hearing on "Operation Guidelines on Supporting Low Carbon Solar Module Products" held on the 27th and explained the need to introduce a solar carbon certification system.

Backed by the government's 30-20 policy, solar power in South Korea has seen a steep increase every year to 2.4 gigabytes in 2018 and 3.1 gigabytes in 2019, following the introduction of 1.4 gigabytes of new facilities in 2017, according to Yoon.

However, if the supply of solar energy, which is being promoted as part of the energy conversion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, produces a lot of carbon in the process of producing modules and other products, questions are raised about whether this is true renewable energy.

"In that sense, the solar energy market should now actively participate in global carbon reduction efforts by strengthening low-carbon eco-friendly," Yoon said.

Solar carbon certification is a system that quantifies the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the entire process of manufacturing solar modules and gives incentives to certified products.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the promotion of the solar carbon certification system as a key task of the "plan to strengthen competitiveness of the renewable energy industry" announced in April last year, and has been collecting opinions from the solar energy industry and policy research services to introduce the system.

Since March, it has been conducting pre-verification of carbon emissions for solar module manufacturers.

In the preliminary verification, the government is conducting carbon emission measurement and carbon emission test certification for each major module of solar energy, training and consulting support for small and medium-sized companies to calculate carbon emissions.

Section chief Yoon said, "We hope that the implementation of the carbon certification system will serve as an opportunity for Korean companies to focus more on developing low-carbon photovoltaic module technology and further grow and strengthen their related competitiveness."

At the public hearing, Kwon Tae-heun, a senior researcher at Ecosian, and Kwon Tae-heun, a team leader at the Korea Energy Agency, announced the "Overview of the Design of Korean Carbon Certification System" on the "Proposal of Operational Guidelines on Supporting Low Carbon Solar Module Products and Future Plans."

◇ Standard emission coefficient is conservative...Self-evaluation method company advantage

Kim Dae-joon, a senior researcher at Ecosian who presented an overview of the design of the Korean carbon certification system, explained the Carbon Foot Print (CFP) system, which is already in effect in France.

According to Kim, France is including poly, silicon, ingot, wafer, cell modules and other subsidiary materials, which are value chains of solar modules, in order to assess carbon emissions.

However, the calculation range is limited only for manufacturing processes, except for transport or use stages, which have a large measurement gap and are complex.

Most carbon emissions are made in the manufacturing phase and are evaluated only in the manufacturing phase for simplicity and traceability.

In France, as an incentive for CFP values acquired during photovoltaic carbon certification, they are reflected in the evaluation items with 70 "price" points, 21 "CFP value" points and nine "environmental relevance" points in the public procurement solar facility bidding market with more than 100kW.

It specifies the acquisition clause as a result of carbon emissions evaluation in bidding requirements, which is not an option but a mandatory acquisition.

France's carbon certification system is divided into how the state provides basic values to calculate carbon emissions and how manufacturers calculate their own carbon emissions less than the government-set standard.

The French government provides a table that calculates carbon emissions by region and solar value chain in advance.

The move is aimed at more easily supporting the calculation of carbon emissions by utilizing the results provided by the French government when companies participate in the bidding.

In particular, in addition to the national defaults, France also provides a carbon emission coefficient for the power generation sector to see how much carbon emissions are produced when each region develops.

Based on the CFP system in France, which is a prior example, the government announced the results of its research to introduce a domestic carbon certification system.

Kim suggested calculating carbon emissions by choosing between the standard emission coefficient evaluation method and the manufacturer's own evaluation method.

In order to calculate the standard emission coefficient, the amount of raw materials injected into the manufacture of the product is calculated in the first stage, the on-site distribution cost of the raw materials input is applied in the second stage, the greenhouse gas emissions per unit of raw materials input in the second stage, and the sum of emissions by product input raw materials and country of origin is calculated in the fourth stage.

The standard emission coefficient evaluation method is to use a 'standard emission coefficient' that calculates carbon emissions per kW for each production value chain by country.

The manufacturer's self-evaluation method is to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that individually evaluates emissions by company and product at the production site, and quantify and evaluate all inputs and outputs related to product manufacturing.

In response to these two calculation methods, Kim suggested self-evaluation methods for companies that have innovative processes in the manufacturing process or are reducing carbon emissions through management.

They say that the self-evaluation method is advantageous for companies because the calculated emission coefficient is conservative, which could result in losses in emissions.

"We have to wait and see what standards it will be carried out through the pilot project in the future," researcher Kim said. "We can choose a more advantageous method from the two methods and apply."

◇ Additional points for carbon-certified products are given to 30 non-measuring points when bidding for a fixed price

Kwon Tae-heun, team leader of the Korea Energy Agency, then explained the government's proposal to enact the notice.

According to the announcement, the scope of the market for carbon certification is set as the RPS market and government supply projects.

As of last year, about 150 megabytes of solar power was supplied through the government supply project, and three gigabytes were supplied to the RPS market.

Combined, the two account for more than 90 percent of the total solar energy market in South Korea, so applying them to most of the market is applied to these two areas.

The Korea Energy Agency is currently undergoing preliminary verification and is currently receiving data from related manufacturers and simulating them.

Through this process, the government will set the standard value of carbon certification system emission coefficient, and will differentiate incentives by grade by grading them according to the standard value.

The highest "below existing carbon emissions" will be given the highest additional points when bidding for solar energy selection.

Under the current regulations on the transaction and issuance of supply certificates, a quantitative evaluation is 70 for fixed-price bidding and a non-measuring assessment is 30.

It is intended to give additional points to the use of low-carbon products in the non-measuring part.

It also offers additional weighting benefits for REC.

It plans to provide weight support for the increase as costs will inevitably increase if companies make low-carbon products.

It plans to apply the highest additional points in the selected bidding market from the second half of 2020, while granting additional REC weight will be granted from the first half of 2021.

It plans to make a final decision on how to grant REC after accumulating data for about six months if the carbon certification system is properly implemented in the second half of this year.

It expects to secure a lot of quality data over the six-month period so that it can set the benchmark properly.

The second is a plan to maintain the current REC weighting, as it will give points that match the mid-level rating when bidding for the selection if "exceeds within 10 percent of existing carbon emissions."

The third plan is to lower the REC weight for the corresponding product if 'more than 10% of the existing carbon emissions'.  

As such, the core of the 1st to 3rd groups is the reference value. 

Because it is a matter of how much to set the benchmark value, this has a plan to determine the exact reference value by implementing a pilot project and a second-half inspection and certification system.

Mandatoryization is even considering restricting entry into the market for products that fail to obtain certification as stipulated in the second half of 2021.

◇ It is possible to change the standard for calculating the amount of emissions by public notice to 10 percent.

The following question-and-answer session was followed by many questions from solar companies.

In particular, there were also sharp questions about the criteria for the calculation coefficient and whether to certify the similar certificate system, as well as preferential treatment for companies with value chains.

An official of a solar energy company asked companies operating in the existing market that have a short period of time to adjust and that products or companies with the same certification as the existing CFP should be recognized to prevent further material waste.

In response, Kwon said, "We have already announced the promotion of the carbon certification system since January last year, and we do not think that the system was created at a rapid pace after a year and four months. The French CFP system, which was mentioned as an example of the accuracy of the data, is a system that started in 2011 and is difficult to mutually certify because it is a system that made energy mix into data in the late 2000s."

Another solar energy company official asked if the method of calculating the standard carbon emissions and the number of 10 percent could be changed.

"The calculation based on the standard emission coefficient is shown, but the exact standard value will come out only when the pre-verification is completed during the preliminary verification of whether it fits the actual site," team leader Kwon said. "10 percent is the standard set based on the current data, and if companies apply emissions closely, 10 percent may be excessive." 

Kwon also said that 10 percent could change if the exact standard value is calculated through accurate pre-verification and grades are divided.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Energy is planning to implement the solar carbon certification system in the second half of this year, and will finalize and implement the notice plan after pre-verification in May.

When the carbon certification system is introduced, carbon emissions will be evaluated and graded in all processes of producing solar energy products. 

Low-carbon products are expected to offer a variety of incentives and significantly strengthen the eco-friendly nature of solar energy products supplied in South Korea.

Yoon Sung-hyuk, director of the Ministry of Industry, said, "Based on the opinions presented at the public hearing, we will complete laying the foundation for the implementation of the system, including the notification of the operation of the carbon certification system and detailed verification standards, by May, and will receive applications from companies from June and implement them in earnest from the second half."

Journalist Jeong Sang-pil