Building a high level of expertise is a crucial part of navigating the European Energy Trading Area, and this is essential in Britain, where high energy prices have influenced the decision-making of investors, developers and off-takers alike.
This was often expressed by speakers at this week’s Renewables Procurement & Revenue Summit, held in London by Solar energy portal publisher Solar Media. The summit attracted around 200 participants over two days and kicked off with a panel discussion specifically looking at the importance of an active hedging strategy to build this kind of expertise in Britain.
“Having an active hedging strategy is important, especially in times like these,” explains Yassine Bounajma, category sourcing manager for global industrial suppliers at Philips. “A large portion of energy costs are on the non-commodity side, so it is important to understand the different cost components.”
Francisco del Rio, head of energy sales for Europe at NTR, told our colleagues from PV Tech Premium at the event, the added complexity in deal making, especially with the co-location of solar and storage projects, has raised the bar for industry expertise for actors to sign these deals.
“The role of advisors is critical here to capture opportunities and reach agreement due to the complexity of different pricing structures,” he explains. “Each partner and each party may have different priorities, so I think it comes down to aligning interests, timelines and priorities to achieve a successful agreement.”
Simon Wilding, senior category manager for energy and utilities at Heathrow Airport, meanwhile, argued that he has tried to bring this expertise in-house, rather than relying on external advisers, to build “a really actionable hedging strategy”.
“We make all our own hedging decisions internally,” he said. “What we are currently reviewing is that we have a very clear goal of what we want to achieve with that.”
Read the full summary of the event PV Tech Premium (subscription required).
