Another week, another wave of solar PPAs

Unsubsidized solar keeps moving forward in Germany, the US, Egypt, Italy, the Philippines, France and South Africa.

December 11, 2020 Emiliano Bellini

Poland is one of the most dynamic PV markets in Europe.

Image:
Wayne National Forest, Flickr

Several power purchase agreements linked to large-scale PV projects were announced this week in a number of countries for solar parks of different sizes.

In South Africa, US-based e-commerce specialist Amazon has agreed to buy on an annual basis 28 GWh of solar energy wheeled via Eskom’s utility grid from a solar farm in the Northern Cape. “The generated energy will be provided by a 10 MW solar plant currently under development,” Chris Haw, executive director at Sola Group, the project's developer, told pv magazine. “The generation license received from NERSA is one of the first granted as part of the recent allocation made for distributed electricity generation in order to plug the short-term capacity gap.” More details about the PPA were not disclosed.

In Germany, Sweden-based power company Vattenfall has announced it will build a 28 MW solar park along the A 19 motorway in the northern region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The facility, expected to be grid-connected in the first half of 2021, will sell power to local industrial conglomerate Bosch, although only for 10 MW of capacity, under a 12-year PPA.

In the United States, Amazon has agreed to buy 641 MW of power generated by solar plants owned and operated by Spanish energy company Acciona. The companies described the deal as a “long-term” PPA, but have not provided further information on the price or duration of the agreement. French energy giant Engie has also secured several PPAs with Amazon on a portfolio of wind and solar projects in the United States, Italy and France amounting to 650 MW. “This transaction represents for Engie the largest portfolio of contracts ever signed with the same company,” the group said, adding that it signed in 2019 contracts representing more than 2,000 MW, mainly in the United States but also in Europe, particularly in Spain.

McDonald’s passed the 1 GW mark in terms of global renewable capacity this week with the signing of three new virtual power purchase agreements (VPPA) – two wind farms and a solar project – for 750 MW of new capacity additions. A McDonald’s spokesperson said that the company’s share of the two wind farms will have a combined capacity of 327 MW. Its share of the solar project will be 423 MW. The new VPPAs build on McDonald’s existing 380 MW renewables portfolio, which was first announced in November 2019.

In the Philippines, Manila-based PV module manufacturer and project developer Solar Philippines has announced it will be installing next year over 1 GW of solar projects in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. “These projects are under PPAs and are apart from our projects for the announced auctions, which will still come at a later date,” the company's CEO, Leandro Leviste, told pv magazine. “The capacities among these projects will be disclosed at a later date but we confirm the total for 2021 exceeds 1 GW.”

In Egypt, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced the installation of Egypt‘s first private PPA-driven solar rooftop. Installer Solarizegypt has connected a 1 MW rooftop array in Sadat City for Coca Cola and will sell the electricity generated to the soft drinks giant under Egypt's net-metering rules, which guarantee payments for 25 years.

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