October 13, 2011
WindMade Standard for Companies and Organizations Version 1.0 Executive Summary The Scope: The WindMade label for Companies and Organizations will allow companies to communicate the amount of renewable electricity they procure and consume around the world. The WindMade Standard for Companies and Organizations describes the qualification requirements for companies and organizations in the WindMade Label Program. More specifically, the standard outlines the criteria companies must meet to qualify for use of the WindMade label. Furthermore, the standard describes the mandatory process for 3rd party verification of the claims made through the label. The document does not describe the WindMade Standard for Products, which is still under development. This Executive Summary highlights the main elements of the standard. Minimum requirements: In order to qualify to use the WindMade label a company or organization must source a minimum of 25% of its electricity consumption from wind energy. Other renewable energy sources are also accepted and can be communicated as a part of the label. The other renewable energy sources eligible include solar, geothermal, wave, sustainable hydro, sustainable biomass and tidal energy. The right to use the WindMade label is based on the company’s certified electricity use for the past year of operations. Methods for Sourcing of Renewable Electricity: A company or organization is eligible to use the WindMade label if it procures the minimum wind energy level via one or more of the below sourcing methods. Other renewable energy sources displayed on the label must also be procured via one or more of the below methods. 1. Own power generation facility. The ownership should be acquired less than 2 years after the commission date of the facility. 2. Power purchase agreement for the purchase of electricity from a renewable power generation facility. The contract should be signed less than 2 years after the commission date of the power generation facility and should be for a minimum of 5 years. 3. Procurement of green credentials (RECs, Certificates of Origin, etc) from a renewable electricity certification program approved by the WindMade Technical Committee. Approved programs currently include Green-e (US & CAN), OK Power (GER), Green Power (AUS), Naturemade Star (CH), Green Power Certification System (JP) and GoldPower (Global). The programs currently approved are all WWF accredited programs with strict requirements to impact and/or sustainability requirements. The list of eligible programs will be expanded over time.
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October 13, 2011
WindMade may grant an exception for the requirements in methods 1 and 2 in case the ownership or PPA went into effect before January 1, 2012 to accommodate companies’ practices prior to the release of this standard. Reporting Boundaries: The different scopes of reporting offer companies the flexibility to gradually expand the WindMade program from an initial boundary to other areas of operations. The current options allow a company to either apply the label to an entire group of legal entities, business units (if separate legal entity) or geographical locations. Verification: An approved third party verifier must annually verify the electricity footprint as well as the sourced renewable electricity. The verification can either be conducted as “limited assurance” or as “Agreed Upon Procedures” in order to enable both auditing and certification firms to perform the verification. A verifier can pre-qualify as a WindMade verifier if the firm already has an accreditation from one of the leading standards.
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