Redevelopment of the Renewables and CHP Register – Beta Phase Development
Guidance,
Correspondence and other
What is the redevelopment of the Renewables and CHP Register?
Ofgem is redeveloping the Renewables and CHP Register, currently used to administer the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed-in Tariff (ROOFIT) and Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) schemes.
Our aim is to provide a new Register that is easier for you to use, provides a better user experience with additional functionality to complete tasks and ensure it is fit for purpose going forward. The new system will be called the RER (Renewable Electricity Register).
Can you provide an update on progress and recent activities of the redevelopment of the Renewables and CHP Register?
The project team have successfully completed the Discovery Phase and the Alpha Phase of the project in October 2019 and January 2020 respectively. The Discovery Phase is the first phase of Agile project design and delivery. During the Discovery Phase Ofgem conducted extensive user research to understand our users in greater detail, the challenges they have when using the Renewables and CHP Register and their needs and wants with regards to the new Renewable Electricity Register (RER). Workshops and one to one user research sessions were carried out throughout the United Kingdom and remotely.
During the Alpha Phase of the project, Ofgem identified various solutions to the problems we learnt about during the Discovery Phase. We developed a series of prototypes of functionality of the new RER focussing on accreditations, output data, account management, Renewables Obligation compliance, and certificate management among other functionality. Extensive user testing sessions were conducted with users reviewing the prototypes and providing feedback, enabling us to iterate on and improve our ideas. A formal assessment of the work conducted during the Alpha Phase was carried out by Government Digital Services (GDS). This was completed with formal feedback being received on 20th January advising that the project had passed the assessment and could now proceed into the Beta Phase.
What are the findings so far?
Through our research carried out during Discovery and Alpha we have identified the following key user needs:
- Complete only necessary tasks to ensure receipt of certificates in a timely manner
- Keep an activity log of communications and changes made within the RER
- Be notified within the RER when there is a call for me to action
- Intuitive and modern user interface that supports me in getting my job done
- In system support to resolve issues when things go wrong
- Manage multiple accounts with a single user log in
- Undertake my work by seeing what is relevant to me with the right type of permissions
- Be presented with content/terminology that is relevant to my role
- Have functionality presented to me that makes sense for my scale of operation
- For the system to remember frequently performed actions
- Perform bulk actions to eliminate repetitive tasks
- Feel that the system is reliable, safe and secure
What’s next?
The project has now entered the Beta Phase, this phase involves building a working version of the Renewable Electricity Register (RER), based on the prototypes developed during the Alpha Phase, which can handle real world usage and work at scale. Functionality that will be developed during the Beta Phase is listed below and will continue to Q3 2020/21 when the service is expected to launch.
- User Management
- Tooling
- Activity History
- General Features
- Organisation Management
- Accreditation
- Declarations
- Output Data
- Certificate Handling
- FMS and Sustainability
- RO Compliance
- FMD REGO Compliance
- Reporting
- Auditing Process
Can I get involved?
Yes! We value your input and strive to deliver a service that works for you. We would like to hear your opinion on the Renewables and CHP Register, any problems or frustrations you may have or functionality you would like to see in the new Register. To offer your feedback please contact us at: renewableelectricityrewrite@ofgem.gov.uk.
During the Beta Phase we require users to test elements of the new Register and provide feedback. This will help us to ensure the finished product meets your needs and expectations, and will help as we make continuous improvements to the new Register over time. If you haven’t been involved in user research to date and would like to be involved in testing during the Beta Phase please contact us at: renewableelectricityrewrite@ofgem.gov.uk.