Subsidy-free Solar PPA in Germany

Subsidy-free Solar PPA in Germany

Centrica Energy Trading and Enovos Germany have signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that enables a German photovoltaic (PV) installation to operate without subsidy. Centrica and Enovos have agreed a 10-year contract where Centrica will supply the electricity generated from the 4MW installation to Enovos who will sell the renewable electricity to their industrial customers. The installation located in the North Western part of Germany started commercial operation in May 2019.

“This project is a first step in the direction of building a portfolio of unsubsidised projects. We are now fast reaching a tipping point of being able to support the roll out of subsidy-free renewable power in significant quantities and we are excited to play a key role in enabling that to happen. Accessing subsidy-free renewable power in a liberalised market makes PPAs attractive for corporations, industrials and utilities with ambitious climate goals. For both the developers and for us as a trading company this clearly is the future of renewables in Europe," explains Jens Tang, Head of Route-to-Market and Origination in Centrica Energy Trading.

Dr. Tobias Schuh, Head of Product and Service Development at Enovos Germany, added: “The interest from our German customers in the supply of renewable electricity is growing and a project like this meets high supply standards in electricity market and meets our customers’ demands for additionality and zero carbon emission policies. PV becomes an interesting energy source in terms of both cost price and climate impact. Yet, the challenge for utilities will be to integrate volatile production into common full supply concepts.”

Centrica Energy Trading will manage all balancing, forecasting and dispatching of the electricity generated by the solar installation. Enovos will integrate the production to supply their customers in different fields of industry, multi-site companies and municipal utilities.

Notes

About Centrica

  • Centrica is an international energy and services company. Everything we do is focused on satisfying the changing needs of our customers.
  • We supply energy and services to over 25 million customer accounts mainly in the UK, Ireland and North America.
  • We are also developing new and innovative products, offers and solutions for customers globally, underpinned by investment in technology.
  • Our Energy Marketing & Trading business is a leading European provider of energy management and revenue optimisation services. We continue to focus on expanding these activities, in addition to managing commodity risk and providing wholesale market access for the Centrica Group. We continue to expand our global LNG business, having built a full range of LNG trading, optimisation and operations capability.

About Enovos Germany

With its headquarters in Saarbrücken, Enovos Deutschland is part of the consortium of an established German-Luxembourg energy supplier (Encevo), supplying public utility companies, industrial companies and branch operators with electricity and natural gas.

Enovos also operates 20 of its own renewable energy plants and, with a portfolio of almost 1,000 MWp, is Germany’s largest manufacturer-independent O&M service-provider in the area of “technical management” of renewable energy plants (Operations & Maintenance). Another focal point is represented by municipal utility shareholdings where Enovos provides public utility companies with local support in its capacity as an “industrial partner” and designs co-operations in such a way as to maintain the independence of public utility companies, thus strengthening their respective profile.

The Encevo Group currently employs more than 1,900 people, owns more than 300,000 delivery points (electricity and natural gas), and operates more than 9,700 km of electricity lines and over 3,700 km of gas pipelines.