At the RE-Source conference in Amsterdam this week, RE-Source Platform Policy and Impact Director Annie Scanlan predicted record corporate power Purchase Agreement (PPA) growth in Europe by 2024. Corporate PPA capacity has already reached 10.7 this year GW reached almost last year’s value. record of 10.8 GW.
At yesterday’s opening session of this year’s RE-Source conference in Amsterdam, Annie Scanlan, policy and impact director of the RE-Source Platform, provided an optimistic assessment of corporate PPA growth in Europe. After reaching 10.8 GW of contracted capacity in 2023, corporate renewable energy PPAs are set to surpass last year’s record. Scanlan revealed that contracted PPA capacity is already 10.7 GW in 2024 if all renewable corporate PPAs are counted from the start of this year until the start of the RE-Source conference on October 24.. With most of the fourth quarter still ahead of us, 2024 should be another record year for renewable corporate PPAs in Europe.
The annual RE-Source conference has become a popular event for renewable electricity producers and sellers to meet business and industrial buyers and their advisors. According to Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, who opened the conference yesterday together with Malgosia Bartosik, Deputy CEO of WindEurope, more than 1,400 attendees gathered in Amsterdam to discuss the state of the PPA market and meet potential PPA counterparties. Just like the contracted capacity in 2024, the number of visitors was record-breaking and the beautiful former Beurs van Berlage exhibition building offered a suitable setting to bring together buyers and sellers of sustainable electricity.
Looking at the latest capacity figures for 2024, solar was again in first place this year with the largest share of contracted capacity. What stands out this year is the growth of hybrid PPAs involving both solar and wind energy. Although minuscule last year, such hybrid PPAs reached a record high this year, rising well above 1 GW of contracted capacity. Wind power PPAs continue to struggle due to long permitting cycles. As Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance, noted yesterday on RE-Source, permitting wind farms cannot take longer than the time to build them.
The total renewable PPA capacity of companies currently stands at 47.6 GW, taking into account the 10.7 GW contracted so far this year and the 10.8 GW contracted last year. Both years marked a big jump from previous years, with 7.8 GW contracted in 2021 and just 6.9 GW in 2022. The robust growth of the sustainable PPA market for businesses in Europe is evident as the recent figures are compared with 2020 and previous years, when this market was clearly smaller (2.1 GW in 2018, 2.7 GW in 2019 and 3.1 GW in 2020).
But the corporate PPA market is still in its formative stages, with some European markets showing little or no activity and certain business sectors still under-represented in the statistics. Spain remains the PPA leader for companies with 11 GW contracted to date, while Germany is in second place with 6.7 GW. Sweden (4.6 GW) and the United Kingdom (4.3 GW) are next in line, but PV PPAs are less prominent in these two countries than in Spain and Germany. In 2024, France will overtake the Netherlands with 3.3 GW, compared to 2.9 GW in the Netherlands. While wind dominates in the Netherlands, solar energy accounts for the lion’s share in France.
In terms of individual sectors, information and communications technology (ICT) and heavy industry dominate corporate renewable energy purchasing, with ICT leading the way with 14.9 GW contracted to date. Although both sectors have each reached a cumulative contracted capacity of 12 GW to 15 GW, all other sectors with less than 3.5 GW are well below this level.
Renewable CPPAs play a crucial role in the decarbonisation of European industry and the corporate sector. Making this tool available to small and medium-sized buyers is crucial for boosting clean energy adoption in Europe and achieving Europe’s ambitious sustainable energy and climate goals. set for themselves.
Eckhart K. Gouras
This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
