Corporate PPAs get shorter as buyers refuse to lock 15-year solar prices
The 15-year green contract is losing friends.
Solar farm at sunset
DENVER — The 15-year corporate PPA was a gift to project finance. It is becoming a hard sell. Treasurers said they will still buy clean power. They will not lock a mid-2010s-style price for a decade and a half while panel, rate, and load assumptions keep moving.
Developers are answering with merchant tails, collars, and hybrid storage that can be re-contracted. The capital stack is getting more creative because the offtake is getting less obedient.
That is healthier than a market built on one kind of contract. It is also slower. Some projects will wait. Some will not be built.
David Chen
Energy and Infrastructure Correspondent
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