Canada’s Ontario follows other U.S jurisdictions to launch clean energy credit registry

The government of Ontario, Canada in a press release, announced the lunch of a voluntary clean energy credit (CEC) registry.

Voluntary CECs are certificates that represent 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of clean electricity that has been generated from a non-emitting source, such as solar, wind, bioenergy, hydroelectric and nuclear power.

Purchasers will source CECs from one or multiple generation facilities in Ontario to meet their individual or corporate goals.

“The creation of a clean energy credit registry will give businesses the opportunity to meet their corporate environmental and sustainability goals when choosing to operate in Ontario,” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy.

The government says a similar type of voluntary registry exists in other competing North American jurisdictions, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and the New England states.

The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has been instructed to research, design and report on what this registry would look like.

The report is expected by July 4, 2022 — after which the province will “work toward having the registry available by January 2023.”