Friday 11 June 2021

Take a further step to net zero with a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement

We’re all facing the challenge of changing how we operate, to combat climate change and help meet the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Many organisations are setting ambitious sustainability goals, amid increasing demand from shareholders, customers and employees for genuine action.

At SSE Energy Solutions, we’ve been looking at ways we can help our customers do this. We know people want to purchase green energy, and that there’s increasing appetite for Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (or CPPAs) – through which customers purchase renewable energy directly from a renewable generator.

SSE is the largest generator of renewable electricity across the UK and Ireland. We have 42 wind farms and 52 hydropower stations, plus another 7GW of on- and off-shore wind power in the pipeline. So we have plenty of assets we could potentially make available for CPPAs.¹

However, we’ve also had feedback from our customers that CPPAs can be complex to arrange, and difficult to access for all but the largest customers.

The traditional CPPA model requires customers to contract directly with a renewable electricity generator, with separate contracts between the generator and a customer’s energy supplier, and the customer and their supplier, to allow for the power to be transferred into a customer’s supply contract. This can be a complicated and lengthy process.

Another challenge with the traditional model is that customers typically have to find a generator that can match their requirements on the volume to be supplied, the term over which this volume is to be supplied, and all the terms and conditions that come with these types of agreements.

So, we’ve developed a product that we hope will remove some of those barriers and enable a wider range of customers to purchase energy directly from one of SSE’s renewable assets.¹

Ultimately, we want as many of our customers as possible to be able to take advantage of the benefits CPPAs can offer, providing you with full traceability. And your tangible link with a specific wind farm is a compelling story to share with investors, employees and customers.

SSE CPPA allows you to buy an agreed amount of green energy from one of our operational UK wind farms.¹ But, rather than you having to negotiate separate contracts, everything is managed through your existing flexible supply agreement.

Put simply: we purchase the power from our wind farms on your behalf and transfer it directly into your supply contract. We’ve done the hard work for you. There are no separate contracts, no need for lengthy negotiations – you only have to speak to us, as you do now.

We’re also offering you full flexibility to choose the length of your commitment, and how much volume you want to buy.

If you want to buy a wind farm’s entire output that’s great; but if you want to buy a smaller amount, that’s fine too. We can do this by splitting the volume from a single wind farm across multiple customers.

And you can sign up to SSE CPPA for as little as a year, up to five years initially – there is no long-term commitment required. You’ll pay a fixed price for the electricity you buy from your agreed asset for the duration of your CPPA agreement with us.

For those customers who don’t want to be exposed to the costs of managing a wind farm’s output, we offer risk management services.

There are some minimum entry requirements: initially, SSE CPPA will be open to organisations or collective buying groups that use at least 50GWh electricity annually; you must be an SSE Energy Solutions supply customer, and you need to have a flexible supply contract.

However, this is only the first phase of our CPPA journey. We have several developments in the pipeline, including longer-term CPPAs for organisations seeking extended budget certainty, and structures that allow customers with less than 50GWh annual demand to participate.

By committing to buy electricity from one of our existing wind farms, you’re supporting green generation and giving us the confidence to invest in new renewable assets in the future. And we hope to offer new-build projects using this new SSE CPPA structure very soon.

If you’re looking for greater energy price security and ways to exceed your net zero targets, SSE CPPA could help. To find out how, please get in touch or join me for a webinar on Thursday, 17 June at 10am.

The direct link to the webinar is right here.

1 All SSE Energy Solutions renewable electricity is sourced from wind and hydro assets wholly or partly owned by SSE Renewables, a sister company in the SSE Group. With SSE CPPA, you’ll continue to get your electricity through the national grid as normal, and SSE Energy Solutions will match your consumption to the agreed output from a specific SSE Group wind farm. Choice of wind farm subject to availability.