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Guarantees of origin for renewable energy sources

The market share of green electricity has increased dramatically in recent years in Germany. Electricity consumers need to be confident that the green electricity they pay for does in fact come from renewable sources. Guarantees of origin (GO) prove the origin of renewable energy in a transparent way and provide electricity consumers the necessary reliability.

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Register of Guarantees of Origin (HKNR)

The mandatory electricity disclosure that electricity suppliers are required to carry out (in accordance with section 42 of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG)) provides customers with important information concerning their electricity consumption. Since January 2013 electricity supplier may only disclose renewable electricity on electricity bills and advertisement if they have cancelled GOs for the delivered amount of energy proving the renewable origin in the Herkunftsnachweisregister (Register of Guarantees of Origin; German acronym: HKNR). This measure makes disclosure more reliable and prevents electricity suppliers from double selling renewable energy.

The picture shows as a flow chart how and by whom guarantees of origin are issued and cancelled in Germany. Flow chart of guarantees of origin in Germany
Source: Umweltbundesamt

Regulations governing the HKNR

The Register of Guarantees of Origin (HKNR) went into operation on 1 January 2013. The latest Herkunfts- und Regionalnachweis-Durchführungsverordnung (HkRNDV - Guarantees of Origin Implementing Ordinance) and the Herkunfts- und Regionalnachweis-Gebührenverordnung (HkRNGebV - Guarantees of Origin Fees Ordinance) entered into force on 21 November 2018 and were amended since. The previous regulations have thus ceased to apply. The applicable version of these ordinances can be found here (only in German, search with German abbreviation).

Laws

Section 79 (4) of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2023) and the Renewable Energy Sources Ordinance (EEV) of 17 February 2015 regulate the operation of the Register of Guarantees of Origin (HKNR) which is established at the Umweltbundesamt (UBA). For further information contact the HKNR office.

Information for electricity suppliers

The detailed rules and regulations governing the HKNR can be found in the Guarantees of Origin and Guarantees of Regional Origin Implementing Ordinance (Herkunfts- und Regionalnachweis-Durchführungsverordnung – HkRNDV). Participants, e.g. electricity suppliers are charged a fee for using the HKNR. Please find information concerning the fees in the Guarantees of Origin and Guarantees of Regional Origin Fees Ordinance (Herkunfts- und Regionalnachweis-Gebührenverordnung – HkRNGebV).

When registering for HKNR, bear in mind that in most cases a post office PostIdent procedure needs to be carried out for identification. Therefore, it will take a few days until your registration will be approved and your account will be opened. If you have your permanent domicile outside Germany you may choose either to be identified in a German post office via the PostIdent procedure or to upload an electronic copy of your passport in the HKNR. To register as a natural or legal person, go to the HKNR home page.
The registration procedure works as follows (be sure that you have the documents indicated below ready to hand):

  • Enter all key data concerning the natural or legal person.
  • Print out a form for the PostIdent process and take it the post office for identification purposes or upload an electronic copy of your passport in the HKNR.
  • Upload a scan of your Handelsregisterauszug (Commercial Register extract(s)).
  • If applicable: Download the power of attorney form for account holders or vendors, complete it and then upload the completed form in the HKNR.

Find a quick user guide with detailed information concerning the HKNR registration process on the HKNR homepage.

Steps for disclosure with Guarantees of origin (GO) Steps for disclosure with guarantees of origin (GO)
Source: Umweltbundesamt

Electricity Disclosure

Electricity Disclosure shows consumers the composition of the electricity they have purchased. It sets out the proportions of the energy sources used to generate the electricity. This overall mix of sources is also referred to as the electricity mix. An electricity mix may relate either to a specific product or to a supplier’s total electricity sales. If consumers have purchased green electricity, the electricity disclosure also indicates the country of origin of the guarantees of origin used. Furthermore, the electricity disclosure shows the environmental impact resulting from electricity consumption. That means iIt specifies the amount of carbon dioxide and radioactive waste produced per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. 

Electricity suppliers must compare their own electricity mix with the average electricity mix in Germany when publishing this information. Electricity suppliers must present all information relating to electricity disclosure in an easily accessible and graphically visualised form.

Electricity suppliers must prepare and publish the electricity disclosure by 1 July of each year for the preceding supply year (e.g. by 1 July 2027 for the 2026 supply year). They must include the electricity disclosure on invoices sent to their electricity customers. They must also publish the electricity disclosure in their promotional material and on their own website. 

A new research report from 2026 has been published. To read further please click the following link: Proposals for energy disclosure for electricity, gas, hydrogen, heating and cooling as a blueprint for a European solution 
 

Information for electricity grid operators

The HKNR obtains power generation data from grid operators. Please note that the strict policy in this regard is “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” In other words, grid operators should not take the initiative to either contact the HKNR or supply it with any data, without being expressly instructed to do so. For our initial contact with grid operators, we use the data from the database known as the BDEW-Codenummerndatenbank.

Find further information concerning implementation of the HKNR in the currently applicable version of the user manual (AHB; promulgated by Bundesnetzagentur; available from https://www.bdew-mako.de/www.bdew-mako.de). A description of the HKNR process is available under HKNR FAQ (in German) as well as process flow diagrams. In principle, the current HKNR-AHB is valid.

The designation of the HKNR dataset for exchanging EDIFACT messages with grid operators is as follows:

GLN: 4399902157025
E-mail: edifact(at)hknr.de

Recognition of foreign guarantees of origin

Guarantees of origin (GOs) for electricity from renewable energies are internationally tradable. The Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency – UBA) must ensure the reliability, truthfulness and accuracy of GOs and systems for GOs. The criteria that GOs have to comply with are set out in Article 19 of EU Directive 2018/2001/EU. For example, the production period and the energy source for a unit of energy produced must be included in the GO. The energy on which the guarantee of origin is based must have been supplied to end consumers. Not all requirements can be verified quickly and clearly. For this reason, UBA had verified for selected countries whether GOs from these countries can be recognised in principle. This legal and energy economic investigation was carried out by Becker Büttner Held Rechtsanwälte (BBH) and the Öko-Institut e. V. on behalf of UBA.

The results of the research project can be found under Downloads in the tab "HKN recognition/ GO recognition".

Downloads

Here you can download documents about information, events and forms concerning the Register of Guarantees of Origin and the Register of Guarantees of Regional Origin. For more downloads (in German) see the German-language page.

Associated content

Links

Implementing Ordinance on Guarantees of Origin and Guarantees of Regional Origin (HkRNDV) + Fees Ordinance of Guarantees of Origin and Guarantees of Regional Origin (HkRNGebV)

Non-binding translation – only the German text is authentic.

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Short link: https://www.uba.de/n13134en