European PPA Volumes Sink to 4-Year Low in May

According to the Swiss consulting firm Pexapark, in May, Europe signed just 280MW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) for renewable energy.

According to the monthly "Power Purchase Agreement Times" report of Pexapark, this is the lowest signing capacity of European power purchase agreements (PPAs) since 2020, having dropped by nearly 80% compared to the previous month. The number of transactions also decreased by 45% month-on-month to 12, similar to the levels for most of 2022.

 

In May, only three countries signed more than one PPA. The UK signed the largest number of PPA contracts, with a total of 4 contracts covering a total capacity of 113MW. Ireland signed 2 contracts (49.3MW). And France also signed 2 contracts (26.9MW). In May, enterprise PPA accounted for the largest share, with a total capacity of 184MW, while utility PPA was only 48MW.

 

Although the number of signed PPAs and the total volume have both decreased, the overall PPA price in Europe for Pexapark has risen slightly by 1.2% compared to the previous month, averaging at 49.3 euros per megawatt-hour (56.5 US dollars per megawatt-hour). Poland led the increase, with a month-on-month growth of 4.6%, while France saw a decrease of 1.3%. Pexapark stated that the reason for the increase in Poland was the rebound in electricity futures prices and an improvement in market sentiment.