In part 1 of this series, you've read about how businesses can generate additional income with HBEs by charging electric vehicles (EVs) with sustainably generated electricity. In part 2, you’ll learn how the measuring and booking of HBEs works in practice.
Not every kWh of supplied electricity produces HBEs. The Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa) has established a set of rules with conditions for entries, measurements, administration, and an annual verification that businesses must adhere to. In this article, we’ll share everything you need to know—from equipment to administration—to measure and enter your HBEs according to the rules.
||| This article is part 2 of a series about HBEs. Read part 1, "HBEs: What Are They and Can I Earn Money with Them?" here.
What can you book?
If your business owns the grid connection and supplies renewable energy for transport, you can book HBEs (more on who may book in part 1). There are some conditions that determine the amount of energy you may book:
 | What you can book:
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 | What you can't not book:
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How do you measure how many HBEs you can book?
Step 1: Map out the options for of charging infrastructure, generation, and storage.
You can get started by determining which bookings are possible at your charging plaza. This mainly depends on the hardware installed at the location; solar panels, wind turbines, and/or a battery are important here.
If your charging infrastructure’s energy is supplied entirely by the grid, you’ll only be able to book the renewable part. This has been set at 30.4% for 2023.
If you provide locally generated sustainable energy, it’s possible to book a (significant) part of the deliveries for 100%. A location with both a charging set-up and its own generation makes it extra interesting to use HBEs.
This advantage can be further utilized by using battery storage. Stored (locally generated) sustainable energy can be delivered to transport at a later time to still make use of 100% HBE booking.
Step 2: Measure the provided electricity correctly.
The booker must show that the electricity booked was indeed delivered to vehicles. If generating the energy locally, it must also be shown on an hourly basis that the generated energy was delivered directly to transport. The same applies to batteries.
So, all supplied electricity must be measured by a metered delivery point. In practice, these are the Measurement Instrument Directive (MID) certified sales meters in the charging station. Almost all commercial AC charging stations are equipped with these meters, but in some cases, a different method of measurement may be needed.
What is a "metered delivery point"?
A point for the delivery of electricity, with a vehicle connection and a MID sales meter (a regulated measuring instrument as defined in the Metrology Act) that measures the amount of energy of the delivery.
Most DC fast chargers, for example, aren’t equipped with MID sales meters. If this is the case, an independent MID meter can be placed as close as possible to the charging station. Or the charging stations can be placed behind a primary or secondary allocation point. Because all charging stations are then behind their own exclusive meter, the delivered electricity can be measured accurately.
To be able to use a primary or secondary allocation point, there shouldn’t be other devices installed behind the allocation point besides the charging station, and the booker must own the allocation point.
For measuring local generation, the data from the gross production meter is suitable, or alternatively, an MID meter. For battery systems, the installation of a separate MID meter is also a good option.
Step 3: Set up administration of measurement data and processes.
For HBEs, you’ll need to not only measure your deliveries to transport, but also maintain an administration of your installation and the details of the delivered electricity. The NEa does do random checks to enure that businesses booking HBEs have kept the right administration.
To be well-prepared for this, you must at least have the following in order:
Information charging stations
- Type & Operation
- Technical Drawings
Contracts with involved parties
- Energy supplier
Product descriptions
- Internal Controls
- Handling of Malfunctions
Purchase data (purchase meter connection)
- Purchase Invoices from Energy Supplier
- kWh Data from the Metering Responsible
Sales data (sales meter charging station)
- Sales Invoices per Charging Station
- kWh Data from the Sales Meters
Data of the renewable electricity generation installation
- Type & power
Step 4: Booking HBEs in the REV Register
After all the above steps have been completed, the actual booking can take place. This requires an account for the Register Energie voor Vervoer (REV), which stands for the Energy for Transport Register, under the name of the person or entity making the entry. An account can be requested from the NEa at no cost.
The booking is done by the booker themselves, not by the verifier. The verifier only approves the installation and administration. So it’s crucial that the booker meticulously reviews the entry to prevent any errors.
Businesses can make their bookings from April of the current year until February of the following year. During this period, a business can book at any time and how often they choose. The number of HBEs for booked deliveries is credited immediately. After this, businesses can directly start with the sale of their certificates (more on this in part 3).
It’s also possible to carry over HBEs to the next year, for example, to trade under one larger contract or to align sales with other business activities. A maximum of 10% of the HBEs booked in that year can be carried over, up to a maximum of 2000 HBEs.
Stap 5: Verification of HBE bookings
To verify that the above steps have been complied with, an annual booking verification is conducted by one of the three appointed parties:
Normec
Control Union
Dekra
This verification consists of a visit to the location and an audit of the administration. Upon approval, the verifier issues a success message to the Dutch Emissions Authority. The verification must be completed by April 28th of the following year, and the costs range between €3,000 and €4,000 for a single location, depending on the complexity.
Part 3: Trading HBEs and earning money
Now that the electricity has been booked in the register and HBEs have been assigned, you can begin trading. In part 3, you’ll read about how this works and how we at Koolen Industries can help you in converting your certificates into euros.
This article was written by Woytek Bode, HBE expert at Koolen Industries. Are you interested in exploring the potential of HBEs for your business or do you need assistance with installation, metering, and booking? Then get in touch with Woytek via email.