European companies have signed nearly 5GW in power purchase agreements (PPA) with wind farms since they were first awarded in 2013.
A record 1.5GW of new PPA deals – contracts to supply energy at a fixed price – with wind farms were signed last year, including the first offshore wind PPA between Vattenfall and Denmark’s largest wind farm Kriegers Flak.
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Norway and Sweden have signed the most PPAs, and Germany, Spain and Poland all signed their first PPA contracts in 2018. The first PPA involving Italy was signed this year, as Danish company European Energy signed an agreement with Swiss company Axpo to supply 300MW of energy to Italy.
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “Corporate PPAs are booming. Industrial consumers across a range of sectors have now bought nearly 5GW of wind energy via PPAs. 2018 saw a record number of new deals, and the first PPAs in the automotive sector and in pharmaceuticals – and the first in Germany, Spain and Poland. In Germany Mercedes are now going to use wind to power their EV and battery factories.
“It shows industrial consumers see wind power as competitive and reliable. And it’ll help allow industry to reduce its energy costs. The CO2 benefits are big too: industry accounts over half of Europe’s electricity consumption. But some countries still have barriers to PPAs. They’ll have to remove them under the EU’s Clean Energy Package. And they should say how in their National Energy Plans this year.”
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