The speech of Mrs. Liesbeth Switten, secretary general of AIB at the opening ceremony of the YEK-G system, is as follows.

Dear excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Today marks a special day in the landscape of renewable energy, for Turkey but also for Europe.  The first contacts between the AIB and Turkey date back to 2006 when my esteemed predecessor Mr. Phil Moody spoke at a workshop on energy certification. Over the years, AIB built a good and constructive dialogue with both Turkish governmental authorities and electricity market participants. 

Since I took over from Mr. Moody in August 2020, I had the occasion to closely follow up the development of the YEK-G energy certificate system. From the outset I was impressed with the professionalism, the drive and the dynamism within EPIAS, EXIST, EMRA and the other authorities that were involved in the development.  Thereby the most important principle was honoured: to enable consumer choice by providing to producers of renewable energy a reliable certification system, where it is assured that a unit of energy is not disclosed twice. Indeed, reliability and trust are key.

In Europe, the system of energy certification, called guarantees of origin exists for over twenty years. As it is impossible to track electrons over the grid, the book and claim system has been introduced for electricity, and recently also for gases including hydrogen. The AIB, the association of issuing bodies, currently hosts 31 national issuing bodies of such guarantees of origin, appointed by their government, who are all member countries of the European Union, the European Economic Area and contracting parties to the Energy Community. 

In 2020, over 900 TWh of green electricity has been certified under the AIB system, or else, 900 million guarantees of origin have been issued in one year. Over the years, we have seen that the system has pushed investments for renewable energy production in Europe, because consumer demand for green energy is growing. Indeed, thanks to the energy certification system, large and small consumers can now consciously choose the origin of the energy they consume and they can only prove this consumption using guarantees of origin. On the other hand, a reliable disclosure system needs to back the energy certification system, whereby designated competent authorities verify these claims of green energy consumption. And there is a set of principles at the core: reliability, uniqueness and immutability.

The AIB is honoured that its certification system and the principles by which it is guided, have inspired the design and setup of the YEK-G system. Although connection with the European certificate system is not yet possible due to the regulatory framework, we look forward to maintain our friendly and constructive cooperation. On behalf of the AIB board and its members I want to express our sincere congratulations to EXIST for the launch of this system.  The AIB is convinced that YEK-G will contribute to the energy transition both within Turkey and on an international level. Many things have to change so that our planet can remain the same for the next generation and certification of energy and the launch of YEK-G is another step in this direction…  We wish you the best of luck! – Thank you!

In addition, the sharing about YEK-G on the AIB official social media account is as follows.

“On Monday the YEK-G was launched, aiming for reliable, renewable energy certificate system in Turkey. The AIB is honoured that our EECS system and the principles by which it is guided, have inspired the design and setup of the YEK-G system. Although connection with the European certificate system is not yet possible due to the regulatory framework, we look forward to maintain our friendly and constructive cooperation and we wish EPIAŞ-EXIST the best of luck!”