Key Benefits:
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry,
Considering Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity generated from renewable energy sources in the domestic electricity market;
Having regard to Directive 2004/8/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 February 2004 on the promotion of cogeneration on the basis of demand for useful heat in the domestic energy market and amending Directive 92/42/EEC;
Considering the amended Act No. 2000-108 of 10 February 2000 on the modernization and development of the public electricity service;
Having regard to Act No. 2005-781 of 13 July 2005 of the programme setting out the guidelines for energy policy, including articles 29 and 33 of the programme;
In view of Decree No. 2000-877 of 7 September 2000 on the authorization to operate electricity production facilities;
Having regard to the opinion of the Higher Council of Electricity and Gas dated 9 May 2006;
The State Council (section of public works) heard,
Decrete:
Electricity generated from renewable energy or by cogeneration by regularly reported or authorized electricity production facilities may be issued with an original guarantee certificate, at the request of the prosecutor or a purchaser of electricity, when the electricity is subject to a purchase contract entered into under sections 8, 10 or 50 of the aforementioned Act of 10 February 2000.
Minister for Energy, by order:
- the share of electricity produced by a pumping power transfer station, a mixed electricity production facility from biomass and fossil fuels or a household waste incineration plant that could be the subject of an original guarantee;
- the technologies and performance criteria of the cogeneration processes and the methods of calculating the electricity produced by this means.
Any electrical power generation facility for which original guarantees are requested must be equipped with an electricity counting device produced.
When the power generation installation is connected to the public transportation network or to a public distribution network, the original warranty application is addressed to the manager of this network. When the installation is not connected to any network or when the installation produces electricity for its own use, the original warranty request is addressed to the public transportation network manager.
I. - The start and end dates of the period of electricity generation for which an original guarantee can be requested must correspond to dates of count data records specified by the contracts linking the electricity production facility to the network manager.
II. - The start date of the production period for which an original warranty is requested may not be earlier than January 1 of the calendar year preceding the application. The application must be submitted no later than 90 days after the last day of the production period being the subject of the application.
I. - The original warranty application must include the following:
1° The name and address of the applicant or, if it is a legal entity, its name or social reason and the address of its head office;
2° The location of the electricity production facility;
3° The installed power of the installation;
4° The date of commissioning of the facility;
5° The references of the receipt of the declaration or authorization to operate issued pursuant to the aforementioned decree of 7 September 2000;
6° References to the network access contract when such a contract was entered into;
7° When the original warranty application is submitted by a purchaser of electricity who has entered into a purchase contract under sections 8, 10 or 50 of the above-mentioned Act of 10 February 2000, the references to the purchase contract;
8° The start and end dates of the electricity generation period for which the original guarantee is requested;
9° The amount of electricity produced during the period for which the original guarantee certificate is requested. When the electricity was produced by a pumping power transfer station, by a mixed plant for the production of electricity from biomass and fossil fuels, by a household waste incineration plant or by cogeneration, it is recorded in the manner prescribed by the decrees provided for in section 2.
II. - The application also states:
1° When electricity was produced from renewable energy sources:
- the nature of energy sources from which electricity was produced;
- when the installation works with other energy sources, the share of electricity generated from renewable energy.
2° When electricity is produced by cogeneration:
- the thermal power of the installation;
- the fuels from which electricity was produced;
- the lower heating power of the fuels used;
- the overall performance of the installation;
- the amount of heat produced during the period for which the original warranty is requested;
- the use of heat produced at the same time as electricity;
- the primary energy savings realized, calculated in accordance with the provisions of the decrees provided for in Article 2.
III. - The applicant for an original warranty must retain all relevant information and documents for three years from the date of the application.
The Public Network Manager has a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of a complete application to issue the original guarantee certificate when an original warranty has already been issued for the installation. This deadline is extended to sixty days if this is a first request.
The certificate includes the identification of the network manager who delivers the original guarantee, the mentions corresponding to the elements in 1° to 9° of I of Article 6 accompanied, as the case may be, of the elements in 1° or 2° of II of the same article.
The manager of the public electricity transmission network shall, on the national register of the original guarantees provided for in section 33 of the Act of 13 July 2005, register the certificates of original guarantees issued by himself or by the managers of the public electricity distribution networks. To this end, managers of public distribution networks transmit to the manager of the public transportation network a copy of the certificates they issue within eight days.
The register is published on the website of the transport network manager. For each original warranty, the registry elements accessible to the public are:
- the number identifying the certificate of the original guarantee;
- the date of its deliverance;
- the network manager who issued it;
- the name and quality of the applicant;
- the place of the electricity production facility;
- the sources of energy from which electricity was produced;
- the start and end dates of the period during which the electricity was produced;
- the amount of energy;
- where applicable, the reference to the registration referred to in section 9.
The Public Transport Network Manager shall, at least every month, update the registry.
The Public Transport Network Manager sends an annual report to the Minister responsible for Energy on the original guarantees issued in the previous year.
At the request of the holder of a certificate of guarantee of origin, the manager of the public transport network shall refer to the national registry provided for in section 8 to mention the use of the guarantee. Each warranty can only be used once.
The rate of issuance of an original guarantee certificate includes a fixed share of two hundred to one thousand euros excluding taxes and a proportional share of one to five cents excluding taxes per megawatt hour guaranteed by a public distribution network manager and one to five tenths of a centime excluding taxes per megawatthour guaranteed by the manager of the public transportation network. It is fixed by order of the Minister responsible for energy on the basis of costs incurred by network managers.
Public network managers verify by survey the accuracy of the elements in the original security application files they received. This verification can only cover original warranties issued for less than three years. Control officers are empowered by prefects in the region based on their technical and legal knowledge on the proposal of network managers. The silence kept by the prefect of the region for more than two months on a request for empowerment is a decision to reject. Enabling is granted for a period of five years. It may be restricted or withdrawn when the conditions under which the authorization was granted cease to be fulfilled.
Comptrollers may collect from the claimants of origin the elements to verify the accuracy of the information referred to in Article 6 of this Order. They have access, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., to electricity production facilities for which an original warranty has been requested or obtained, with the exception of all residential premises. They are required to preserve the confidentiality of the information they are aware of during their controls.
Any control is the subject of a record of the date, place and nature of the findings. The minutes shall be notified within fifteen days of the close of the minutes to the applicant of the original guarantee certificate, as well as to the prefect of the area where the facility is located, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or by any other means establishing the date of receipt.
If the control reveals that the attestation is based on incorrect information, the electricity produced after the period on which the last issued guarantee of origin was carried shall not result in the issuance of an attestation. A new original warranty may only be issued for a period after a new control establishing compliance with the elements of the original warranty application in section 6. This new control will be carried out at the applicant's request and fees.
The certificates issued between October 27, 2003 and December 31, 2006 by the managers of the public networks for the purpose of attesting to the origin of the electricity produced and meeting the criteria mentioned in sections 29 and 33 of the above-mentioned Program Law No. 2005-781 have the value of certificates of original guarantees within the meaning of section 1 of this Order.
The Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry and the Minister Delegate to Industry are responsible, each with respect to it, for the execution of this Order, to be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, September 5, 2006.
Dominique de Villepin
By the Prime Minister:
Minister Delegate to Industry,
François Loos
Minister of Economy,
finance and industry,
Thierry Breton
