During the project preparation, system implementation, as well as its commissioning, we appreciated the extensive experience and expertise of the supplier’s employees – SFÉRA, a.s., which significantly contributed to the successful operation of the Information System for Guarantees of Origin Registry (EZP) for our company OTE, a.s., which is the issuer of Guarantees of Origin in the Czech Republic.
– Martin Štandera, Head of the Department of Guarantees of Origin Administration and Clean Mobility,
OTE, a.s.
About company
About the Company
The Czech company OTE, a.s. (OTE) is a provider of comprehensive services to participants in the Czech energy market. OTE holds a license for market operator activities and has been organizing trading on the day-ahead and intraday electricity markets since 2002 and on the intraday gas market since 2010.
OTE has been designated by the Energy Regulatory Office as the nominated electricity market operator (NEMO), ensuring the unified coupling of day-ahead and intraday electricity markets. OTE reports trading data from short-term markets to the European database of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).
It is the issuer of Guarantees of Origin of energy and the operator of the Czech Republic’s registry for Guarantees of Origin. It is also a member of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB), which enables the electronic exchange of Guarantees of Origin with other AIB member entities.
Initial Situation
A Guarantee of Origin is verifiable proof for a consumer of the source, production facility, and time period in which the energy was produced and delivered to the respective energy system.
Since 2013, OTE has been issuing Guarantees of Origin for electricity in electronic form based on received values of generated and supplied energy, which have been measured or calculated in accordance with the implementing legislation. Since 2013, electricity producers have had the possibility to request OTE to issue Guarantees of Origin for electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES) and high-efficiency cogeneration (HEC).
In connection with the amendment of the Act on supported energy sources within Czech legislation, OTE obtained additional obligations in the area of Guarantees of Origin, in particular obligations related to the management of Guarantees of Origin for new commodities (biomethane, hydrogen, and heat).
The support of new commodities for Guarantees of Origin also required extensions ensuring the compatibility of Guarantees of Origin according to the new specification defined by the AIB.
For this reason, in 2022 OTE announced a tender for the delivery of an information system enabling extended management of Guarantees of Origin of energy. Based on the results of the international tender, SFÉRA, a.s. became the successful bidder and supplier of the EZP solution based on the XMtrade® GOS product.
Solution
The EZP information system was the first Guarantees of Origin registry within AIB members that connected to the AIB Hub using extensions for new types of Guarantees of Origin defined by AIB.
The implementation of new functionalities was successfully completed by comprehensive testing of the new system, which enabled the EZP system to go live on 02 May 2023. As of 26 May 2023, international transfers via the AIB Hub under the new Guarantees of Origin scheme were successfully launched, bringing the EZP system into full operation.
In accordance with legislative changes, the EZP information system enables the issuance of Guarantees of Origin for electricity produced not only from RES and HEC, but from any sources. It also enables the issuance and management of Guarantees of Origin for biomethane (advanced and other), heat (from RES and nuclear facilities), and hydrogen.
An integral part of the EZP system functionalities is the support of the use of Guarantees of Origin for final consumers as well as the support of transfers of Guarantees of Origin between account holders in the form of domestic and international transfers via the AIB Hub platform.
The commissioning of the new system for the registration of Guarantees of Origin also introduced new functionalities supporting the management of Guarantees of Origin of advanced biomethane in the scope of so-called priority transfers, as well as automation of several functionalities, more transparent reporting, simplification of administration, and overall improvement of the user interface.
Guarantees of Origin can be issued in accordance with legislation for new types of commodities produced as of 1 January 2023.
Technology
The EZP system is operated as a web application accessible via an internet browser. The system itself was delivered as a cloud-based solution.
Through automated data exchange, synchronization of necessary data entities with surrounding systems operated by OTE is ensured. The EZP system automatically communicates with several OTE systems, in particular with systems for the management of company and user master data, systems for the management of production facilities, metered data and fuel reports, as well as with invoicing systems and systems for publishing data on the OTE website.
These systems are interconnected with the EZP system via Kafka interfaces or web services.
Connection to the AIB Hub platform is implemented in accordance with the valid data exchange specification defined by AIB, which currently requires the use of web services on both the registry side and the AIB Hub platform side, supporting bidirectional communication.
Services
The EZP information system is provided to OTE under a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contract.
Operation and supervision are ensured by a technical support team. The system, including the infrastructure, is continuously monitored remotely, which enables timely response to potential issues and helps prevent outages.