EIB: First carbon credits from wind farms in Estonia and Lithuania

In its first transaction in the Baltics, the EBRD-EIB Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund (MCCF) has agreed to buy carbon credits from a group of wind farms managed by OÜ Nelja Energia, a renewable energy company, wholly-owned by Fre-energy AS, a ... read more

OÜ Nelja Energia develops and manages a portfolio of 19 wind farms in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, with a planned combined capacity of 330 MW onshore and 700 MW offshore.

EIB Under the purchase agreement, the MCCF will acquire carbon credits resulting from six OÜ Nelja Energia’s wind farms projects in Estonia and Lithuania, generated via the Joint Implementation (JI) mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.

Currently one of the six wind farms is operational and the remaining under construction or development. Upon completion, the six wind farms will have a combined capacity of 76 megawatts.

The completion of the carbon credit purchase is subject to approvals from the Estonian and Lithuanian governments.

This transaction was negotiated by GreenStream Network Plc., which acts as a carbon manager for the MCCF.

In June 2009 the EBRD provided a 19 million equity investment in Fre-energy, to help support the development of OÜ Nelja Energia’s wind farm projects.

Launched in December 2006 by the EBRD and the EIB, and whose participants include the governments of Finland, Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden, as well as five private sector participants, the MCCF is one of the few carbon funds dedicated specifically to countries from central Europe to central Asia.

JI is a market-based approach for addressing global climate change aiming to achieve cost-efficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through targeted investments in transition economies. A JI project generates carbon credits (known as Emission Reduction Units). These can be used to meet a buyer’s compliance obligations.

The EBRD, owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, is supporting the development of market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central Asia. www.ebrd.com

The EIB is the European Union’s long-term lending bank, promoting European objectives. Established in 1958, it operates within the 27 EU Member States and in more than 130 countries outside the EU. One of the EIB’s priority objectives is protection and improvement of the environment and mitigation against climate change, which accounted for almost EUR 18bn of the EIB’s total lending activity in 2009. For further information visit: www.eib.org

GreenStream is a leading Northern European developer and manager of green investment vehicles, basing its expertise on a variety of advanced advisory and intermediary services. Further information: www.greenstream.net

OÜ Nelja Energia operates in renewable energy development and power generation in the three Baltic States. At the moment, there are 9 wind farms with a combined capacity of 104,5 MW operating in Estonia and Lithuania. In addition, Nelja Energia is developing around 300MW of onshore and 700 MW of offshore wind farms. For more information: www.4energia.ee

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Source: Europa.eu - Wed, 01 Sep 2010
Category: emissiontrading

Climex: Dutch Allocation Auctions will be held on 14 October and 18 November

The Dutch Ministries of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and Economic Affairs intend to auction 4 million EUAs on Climex in two consecutive auctions, which are scheduled for 14 October and 18 November 2010. In the same time period Climex will also organise another auction for the Austrian Government on 8 November. All auctions start at 10.00 AM CET.

The Dutch and Austrian allocation auctions will be held in the same format as the auctions during Phase III of the EU ETS starting 2013: single round, sealed bid and a single clearing price. Participation in the auctions for all buyers will be free of charge. What is special for the Dutch Government Auctions is that for successful buyers there are also no transaction fees. It is therefore an excellent opportunity for compliance companies under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to become acquainted with such auctions at no further costs.

Climex During Phase II of the EU-ETS (2008 - 2012), the Dutch Government is allocating an annual average of about 80 million emission allowances to installations in the Netherlands participating in the EU ETS. According to the Dutch Allocation Plan and corresponding ordinance a total of 16 million EUAs will be auctioned throughout this period, accounting for 4% of the total number.

The auctions are open to all parties with a Holding Account connected to the CITL. The minimum size of a bid is 500 allowances. For further information about the auction, please contact the Climex Customer Service Desk. Companies interested in participating in the auction need to be a Member of Climex and need to fully collateralise their bids. There are no costs or obligations related to becoming a Member.

The official announcement regarding the auctions can be found on the websites of the Ministry VROM (link). The announcement will also be published at the Climex website (www.climex.com) as well as all related news items and further details.

Well in advance of the first auction, workshops will be organised in order to provide information on rules, processes and the procedures of the auctions. Climex Members can directly participate in the auctions and will automatically receive all information.

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Source: Climex - Wed, 25 Aug 2010
Category: business

Estonia sales emission rights to Spain

At its session today (29.07.10), the Government of the Republic approved draft sale and purchase agreement for Estonia’s unused emission permits or AAUs (Assigned Amount Units), which are being entered into with the Kingdom of Spain. With the entry into force of this and previous transactions the government will have sold AAUs to the value of one billion kroons in 2010, which is twice as much as planned in the annual budget.

The sale of the AAUs is taking place as part of the green investment scheme, which requires the revenue raised to be reinvested in environmentally friendly projects designed to reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions. The government’s decision to approve the transaction brought to an end almost a year of preparatory negotiations. Based on the agreement with Spain, the revenue raised from the transaction will be used to develop wind energy and environmentally friendly public transport.

Estonia Image: Pixelio/bretagne 23 million euros (ca 359 million kroons) of AAU sales revenue will be invested in wind energy projects, in addition to the capacity financed through regular tariff support. The support will be issued by the Environmental Investment Centre foundation on the basis of a regulation of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications.

As part of the investment scheme for the development of public transport, the state will be spending 21 million euros (ca 328 million kroons) on economical new buses for public service. The Road Administration will be conducting a public procurement in order to implement the support scheme. The buses (ca 110) purchased as a result of the procurement will go into use on regional and outlying urban routes.

Estonia has already entered into two sale and purchase agreements with Austria for the transfer of 2.9 million AAUs and will soon sign another one for the sale of 0.5 million AAUs to the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

For Spain this is the six transaction of this kind, after the contract signed in 2008 with Hungary and in 2009 with Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine; this new transaction is part of its efforts to develop International Emissions Trading as a complementary flexible mechanism of the Kioto Protocol, suited to help Annex-I countries to achieve their compliance objectives.

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Source: Estonian Government - Mon, 02 Aug 2010
Category: business

RGGI States Initiate Bidder Application Process for September 2010 CO2 Allowance Auction

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) today released the Auction Notice and application materials for the third quarterly carbon dioxide (CO2) allowance auction to be held in calendar year 2010. The materials ... read more

Source: RGGI - Tue, 13 Jul 2010
Category: business