TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) plans an Internet site to bring together parties wanting to trade carbon-neutral power that is generated from renewable sources or from fossil fuels offset by U.N. carbon credits.
An exchange official said on Tuesday that the aim was to start the site by mid-November, initially on a trial basis.
The Japanese government and big corporations have been active in buying U.N. carbon offsets to help the world’s fifth-biggest polluter meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol.
The JEPX exchange’s bulletin board is expected to give more incentives for utility firms and other holders to trade such offsets in Japan. Transactions so far have been mostly done individually and little price information is publicly available.
The JEPX, for spot and forward electricity transactions, has 40 member companies. They range from utility, oil and manufacturing companies to independent power producers.
In the trial scheme, any company or public entity can sell carbon-neutral electricity with any type or timing of delivery by using the exchange’s Web site to share trading information, the exchange official said.
The buyers are limited to the exchange’s member companies.
The exchange will allow any entity to sell power generated from burning fossil fuels on the carbon-free transaction site on conditions that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from producing the same amount of electricity is offset by equivalent U.N. carbon offsets, the official said.
“Starting it as a trial is aimed to sound out what can be a standard for such transaction,” the official said.
KYOTO CREDITS
The JEPX will also float another trial Web site, at the same time, to help member companies trade U.N. carbon offsets, called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), among themselves, the official said.
A minimum trading lot for CER is 10,000 tonnes and that for carbon-free electricity is 10,000 kilowatt hours a month.
The state-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation launched a similar Internet information site for trading CERs in November, 2007, which has had some success.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange [TSE.UL], Japan’s biggest bourse, is set to end a feasibility study on CERs by the end of this year and is awaiting a clear policy on emissions caps and trading from the Japanese government.
Japanese electric power companies are a major buyer of U.N. carbon offsets. They either buy offsets from other holders or receive them in exchange for investing in U.N.-approved clean energy projects in developing countries.
The electric power sector as a whole held 190 million tonnes of such offsets for delivery between 2008 and 2012, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan has said.
By Risa Maeda (Editing by Anthony Barker)
Sourced From
{ 0 comments… add one now }
Leave a Comment