Introduction

What are green certificates?

Green certificates are a Belgian support scheme for renewable electricity production. They are granted per amount of electricity that an installation actually produces, and can then be sold, so they form a production-based income for the owner of the installation. Because of this, every megawatt-hour of curtailed solar production is lost certificate income, and owners of installations that receive green certificates usually want those inverters to keep producing at full power at all times.

The scheme is organised per region, each with its own rules and its own name. It is being phased out: newer installations no longer receive green certificates, but older installations keep receiving them for the duration of their support period (which can run for many years). The cut-off dates differ per region:

• Flanders: groenestroomcertificaten, see the Flemish government's information page and the Fluvius page on green certificates. Small solar installations (up to 10 kW) commissioned after 14 June 2015 receive no certificates, and no new solar installations commissioned after 16 July 2021 do.
• Wallonia: certificats verts, managed by the public service SPW Energie, see energie.wallonie.be. Small solar installations (up to 10 kW) commissioned after 28 February 2014 (the end of the Solwatt scheme) receive no certificates; larger installations can still qualify.
• Brussels: certificats verts / groenestroomcertificaten, managed by the regional regulator, see Brugel. Here the scheme is still active for new installations; it is expected to be replaced by another support mechanism in 2028 at the earliest.

What this control mode does

The Green Certificates - Inverters Driver is a special local control mode that forces the selected solar inverters to always produce at their full nominal power. The selected inverters are never curtailed by the SmartgridOne Controller; other devices on the site remain controlled as usual.

Configuring the special control mode

Solar inverters

Make sure that the solar inverters that receive green certificates are added to the SmartgridOne Controller.

Enabling the special control mode

1. Go to the 'Settings' tab on the SmartgridOne Controller's interface and click 'Manage special local control modes'.
2. Click 'Start wizard' under 'Enable a new special local control mode'.
3. Choose 'Green Certificates - Inverters Driver' and click 'Next'.
4. Select the solar inverter(s) that receive green certificates and must never be curtailed, and click 'Apply mode to selected devices'.

See Special local control modes for the priority towards other signals, and for pausing or removing the mode.