Business Cases

Demand for Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) has grown substantially in recent years: from 37 TWh in 2006 to 621 TWh in 2019. The main driver behind this development is the corporate sector, where the evidence of climate-positive factors (such as the origin of electricity consumed) is increasingly expected from stakeholders.

Increasing market volumes and rising prices have fuelled interest from utilities, specialised traders and trading venues – and they have also led to highly differentiated product characteristics and process parameters.

Due to the evolving nature of this market over recent years, these complexities have led to many companies currently lacking proper system support – GoO Trading is typically managed with a combination of spreadsheets, e-mail and manual tasks.

The main purpose of any trading software lies in enabling the organisation to focus on value-adding tasks to drive profitability, and to avoid unnecessary costs and risks.

Key features include:

• Data completeness and transparency as well as immediate visibility and availability
• Operational risk reduction through efficient processes with a high degree of automation

The proper capturing and processing of GoO trades requires many specific data points. Besides basic production information such as technology (Wind, Solar, Hydro …), country or region of origin and period, additional data such as the following may need to be captured:

• Logistic information (registries, registry accounts and agreed transfer period)
• Group of generation units or specific generation unit
• Subsidy regime
• Eco Labels

In addition to these attributes, further constraints and optionality may apply to certain GoOs or specific GoO transactions. Associated Eco Labels may mandate, for example, that the generation unit be commissioned no more than one year ago.

The unique data model of ChorusLink has been designed to manage all the specific optionalities, constraints and other complexities of GoO trades in a structured manner. Its high flexibility fully supports all currently known requirements arising from electricity marketing and consumer demands.

As a state-of-the-art software solution ChorusLink avoids typical spreadsheet risks by ensuring segregation of duties, standardized workflows and full auditability.

Trade capture and related document creation is intuitive and fast, with the common trade repository providing full transparency (and prompt trade matching) for both trade parties.

With up-to-date trade lists and GoO positions, ChorusLink has all the data necessary for efficient certificate transfers readily available. Settlement and invoicing run fully automated as part of the common trade repository.

(coming soon)