Hello,
I am a current West Real Time Trader and have been in this role for about 2 years. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn about the physical power trading and the power markets as a whole. Though, I have found my role to be slightly stagnant as far as growth. More often than not every shift seems to be same with setting up flexible generation offers and locking in a couple of export strips with counterparties (the company I work for is based out of the AESO for context). I also find myself to be less quant skilled than the other traders and believe my skillset would be better suited for a more social setting.
Because of this, I have become quite interested in power origination, in that I would be structuring and negotiating longer-term deals and creating tailored contracts for clients.
So my question is how is easy is the transition from RT trading to origination? Will I need to spend time trading financials and term, or could I move directly into an origination analyst role?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Is there an origination function at your shop? I've seen RT traders move directly into origination roles, you don't need to trade term first, depends on your skills, knowledge, propensities, etc. Do you like sales? Do you add value in an origination capacity? Do you desire to go to a lot of industry events, meeting potential customers and getting deals done? I think you could certainly become an origination analyst at the very least and then transition into a more senior origination role. Think about what types of deals you'd want to/be good at bringing in and focus on learning more about those structures. I've been on a desk where we had originators focusing on generation deals for the RT desk, and originators focusing on default service (load) auctions. If you want to deal with renewables, learn more about PPAs, if other gen types, learn about HRCOs and spark spreads, if load deals, learn more about that function. Try to narrow down what types of deals you'd do and focus on learning how you can add value there. If your desk has an origination function, talk to those guys and see what kind of deals they're working, see if you can assist with analysis or otherwise to gain exposure to the deal structures. Origination is what you make it, so focus in on what type of origination you want to do. Hope that helps.
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