Full Title: Renewable Energy PPA Guidebook for Corporate and Industrial Purchasers.
Author(s): American Council on Renewable Energy
Publisher(s):
Publication Date: November 1, 2016
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The growing consumption of renewable energy by corporate end users is fundamentally remaking the model for electric power sales in the United States. Commercial and industrial (“C&I”) customers are increasingly purchasing renewable energy directly via power purchase agreements (“PPAs”). In 2015, over 3.2 GW of power were contracted through PPAs by C&I purchasers. Continued growth is all but certain in the remainder of 2016 and beyond. In order to expand the recent trend of companies procuring renewables directly, this report is intended to serve as a guide to the often complex PPA contracting process and is designed for companies unfamiliar with the key elements of successful PPAs. The report is organized into two sections:
- Part 1 – Outline of Key Terms: provides a high‐level overview of terms and topics that parties should consider when structuring renewable energy PPAs between utility‐scale wind and solar project owners and C&I purchasers.
- Part 2 – PPA Guidebook: contains a more detailed explanation and discussion of each topic in the Outline of Key Terms and offers both buyer and seller perspectives.
A group of prominent renewable energy developers, investors, professional service firms, utilities, and other companies contributed to this report. It should be noted that companies are procuring renewable energy via a number of transaction types other than PPAs, and this report focuses solely on contracting utility‐scale PPAs. The report does not attempt to cover every contracting topic in C&I PPA transactions, but it does address many topics that have been highlighted as key areas of importance. The C&I PPA market will continue to evolve as the goals of buyers and sellers change, and as renewable energy technology changes and costs are reduced. The Outline of Key Terms and the accompanying PPA Guidebook should be viewed as a snapshot of the current discussion.