A designated generation facility is an NGER facility whose principal activity is generating electricity, attributed to the electricity generation industry sector. The NGER Act defines it in section 7 by reference to item 54 of Schedule 2 to the NGER Regulations, which is ANZSIC 261, electricity generation. The Clean Energy Regulator uses the abbreviation DGF.
Key points
- A facility whose principal activity is electricity generation
- Excludes generation for own use or as a secondary activity
- Data is published at facility level
- Grid-connected generators are treated separately under the Safeguard Mechanism
How the status is decided
A facility’s industry sector follows its principal activity: the activity that produces a product or service for sale on the market and generates the most value of all its activities. Where that activity is generating electricity for sale, the facility is a designated generation facility.
What is excluded
A facility that generates electricity for its own use, or as a secondary activity, is not a designated generation facility.
Why the status matters
Most NGER data is published as corporate group totals. Section 24 of the NGER Act requires designated generation facility data to be published facility by facility by 28 February each year. The Regulator’s electricity sector data shows each facility’s emissions, electricity production, primary fuel source, emissions intensity and grid connection. Under the Safeguard Mechanism, emissions from a grid-connected electricity generator are excluded from covered emissions in a financial year covered by the sectoral baseline.
Method restrictions
The Measurement Determination does not allow Method 1 for carbon dioxide from the main fuel at a generating unit in ANZSIC 2611 with a capacity of 30 megawatts or more that generates more than 50,000 megawatt hours in the year. Large generators therefore need facility-specific methods for their main fuel.
Reporting
A designated generation facility is reported by the corporation with operational control, as part of its annual NGER report, like any other facility. Because its data is published at facility level, a generator’s emissions intensity is visible to anyone, including peers, customers and investors.
References & sources
Primary regulatory documents and authoritative references underpinning this answer.