For the first time, EDF released 0.15TWh of nuclear guarantees of origin (GOs) in February 2024. This represents <0.1% of the total supply of nuclear GOs on the market, which reached about 120 TWh in 2023. Currently, nuclear GOs are trading at around EUR 0.03/MWh (Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for CY-1), well below the RES-E GOs which were last reported trading in a range of EUR2/MWh for future vintages on 4 June 2024.
Since the classification of investments in nuclear energy as sustainable under the EU Taxonomy in 2020, demand for nuclear GOs has increased by around 50% to almost 80 TWh. Some buyers opted for cheap nuclear certificates when renewable GO prices climbed to EUR 10/MWh at the end of 2022.
Despite their environmental benefits in terms of low life-cycle emissions, the market for nuclear GOs currently remains constrained by general anti-nuclear sentiment and preference for renewable energy. However, there is room for higher nuclear GO demand to the extent that end-users are concerned with GHG accounting rather than the renewable attributes of electricity.
Legislative context The French decree relating to electricity GOs entered into force in November 2023. The decree extends GOs to non-renewable sources, enabling the issuance of nuclear GO. Importantly, France did not introduce full production disclosur…
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