Sian Crampsie
Vattenfall has launched a tender offering UK businesses the chance to purchase electricity from its South Kyle wind farm in Scotland through corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
The Swedish renewable energy developer says that it started marketing the PPAs in April and is open to receiving offers until June. It added in a statement that the corporate PPA route was a good option for businesses looking to secure green renewable energy while keeping control of their energy prices.
Selling energy from wind farms via a corporate PPA is a new strategy in the UK for Vattenfall as well as other wind farm developers. Developers were previously able to rely on subsidy payments through the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme to provide price certainty, but the scheme is no longer in use for new wind farm developments. Developers are therefore looking to new strategies such as PPAs to help them secure regular income, and therefore financing, for new wind farm projects.
The South Kyle wind farm has a grid connection for 165 MW and will have estimated generation output of 500 GWh per year. Electricity from the project is being offered at index linked fixed prices for periods of between 10 and 20 years in multiples of 1 MW (approximately 3 GWh per annum).
Other developers have already secured PPA deals for wind farms in the UK, including Banks Group, which will sell the output from its Kype Muir and Middle Muir wind farms in Scotland to Dong Energy, and Eneco, which signed a 10-year PPA with Mars for the output from its Moy wind farm in Scotland.
