2015

A residual mix is needed for reliable disclosure of electricity consumption where Guarantees of Origin (or in some cases other legally accepted tracking instruments) are not used. Due to the international nature of the Guarantee of Origin (GO) market, the European Attribute Mix is needed by energy authorities to calculate the residual mix for their respective country.

The presence of a reliably calculated Residual Mix makes the entire disclosure system reliable, by determining and correctly disclosing to consumers that are purchasing a non-specific type of electricity, what energy origin is left in the power system after explicit tracking by means of GOs.

To avoid so-called “expanding” of energy origin in all cases where GOs are exported, a coordinated European Attribute Mix needs to be calculated and applied. This is why AIB’s coordination of the EAM calculation complements the HUB service of the AIB extremely well: it informs countries of the origin of the energy they receive in return, when GOs are exported via the AIB HUB. This is a prerequisite for a complete and reliable electricity disclosure scheme, and closes the loop for the HUB service.

At the same time, it is important to remember that Residual Mixes can be seen as an intermediary step towards a full disclosure system where all electricity disclosure is done through GOs. This is supported by AIB’s Reflection Paper. Indeed, if all electricity was explicitly tracked through GOs, no residual mix would be needed – which would improve the reliability, accuracy, efficiency and credibility of the disclosure system.

Note that the calculated country and energy source/technology emission factors forming the base for the National Residual Mix calculations may not be sold, distributed or processed as part of a derivative tool.