The Economic Case for Offsite PPAs

Author: Jason Wykoff has extensive experience contracting for green power, including offsite PPAs, EACs and carbon offsets, with some of the largest companies in the United States.

Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are the best way for a company to support the development of new clean energy while meeting its corporate sustainability targets. But organizations are also using offsite PPAs to make their commitments to clean energy pay off financially.

How?

In a PPA, a creditworthy off-taker (such as a corporation) agrees to pay a fixed price for an anticipated volume of electricity over a defined term from a renewable energy installation such as a wind farm. Thanks to increasingly low prices for renewables—combined with available tax subsidies—the off-taker can potentially lock in a rate that remains below wholesale electricity market prices for the life of the PPA. Offsite PPAs are also referred to as a “fixed for floating” swap, or contract for differences, because whenever the volatile market price for electricity outpaces the fixed price of the PPA, the off-taker benefits.

For example, let’s say you agree to a price of $20/megawatt-hours (MWh) for 100,000MWh/year for 12 years. The savings or revenue of this PPA is returned in one of two ways, depending on the PPA structure:

Direct PPA:

In a direct PPA, the off-taker and generator must be located in the same electricity grid region.  In this example, your utility purchases power from a wind farm and sells it to you at the agreed upon rate. For purposes of our example, let’s assume that in a one month period you use 10,000MWh of purchased electricity and half of that came from your wind farm PPA at $20/MWh. For the same period, the utility’s wholesale power rate for normal business is $25/MWh.  You’ve saved $5 per MWh for half of your 10,000 MWh utilization, or $25,000 for the month.

Without PPA: 10,000 MWh at $25/MWh = $250,000

With PPA: 5,000 MWh at $25/MWh + 5,000 MWh at $20/MWh = $225,000

Virtual PPA:

A virtual PPA works much the same way as the direct model but it isn’t sleeved through your utility. In virtual offsite PPAs, the off-taker and generator can be located in different regions.  As a result, instead of purchasing both renewable and brown power from your utility, you directly settle financially with the generator itself. Using the same scenario as above, if your agreed upon PPA price for the wind power you’re purchasing is $20/MWh and the wholesale electricity market price is $25/MWh, the wind farm owes you a check for the $5/MWh difference for the electricity generated that month.

In a virtual PPA, you still pay your $250,000 utility bill as you have before, but are simultaneously reimbursed with the $25,000 difference, reducing your net energy cost to $225,000. In the same way that a direct renewable PPA saves you money upfront, a virtual renewable PPA pays you for the delta between your PPA rate and market prices.  Because you also have the option to retain the renewable energy credits (RECs) from the PPA, you can simultaneously save money while also using your PPA to make renewable energy purchasing or carbon reduction claims. The risk in this scenario is that, if the market softens and your PPA price is above wholesale power market rates, you end up paying more on your utility bill (direct PPA) or cut a check to the generator (virtual PPA).  If you retain the RECs associated with the PPA, you still receive the environmental benefits, only at a cost rather than for free.

Working with a trusted buyer’s agent like Renewable Choice can help mitigate PPA risks. By thoroughly vetting potential projects and performing financial modeling and analysis on different forward pricing scenarios – from bull to bear – Renewable Choice is able to find you the absolute best option to meet your company’s unique financial & sustainability needs.  Learn more about the risks of offsite PPAs—and the risks you face without one—in our white paper.

Understanding how to identify and negotiate a PPA contract requires nuance and experience, but is critical to ensuring your company can reap the highest benefits from your green power investment. Get in touch with one of our seasoned industry experts to learn how your company can strategically embrace clean, renewable energy.

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