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Power purchase agreement

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A power purchase agreement ( PPA ), or electricity power agreement , is a long-term contract between an electricity generator and a customer, usually an utility , government or company. PPAs may last anywhere between 5 and 20 years, during which time the power purchaser buys energy at a pre-negotiated price. Such agreements play a key role in the financing of independently owned (i.e. not owned by a utility ) electricity generators, especially producers of renewable energy like solar farms or wind farms .

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36-407: PPAs contracts can either be for a pre-defined amount of electricity or for a pre-defined portion of whatever quantity of electricity the seller generates. In either case, the price can be a fixed amount per kilowatt-hour or fluctuating market rates , depending on the specific terms of the contract. In the case of distributed generation (where the generator is located on a building site and energy

72-428: A battery is usually expressed indirectly by its capacity in ampere-hours ; to convert ampere-hour (Ah) to watt-hours (Wh), the ampere-hour value must be multiplied by the voltage of the power source. This value is approximate, since the battery voltage is not constant during its discharge, and because higher discharge rates reduce the total amount of energy that the battery can provide. In the case of devices that output

108-423: A special purpose entity whose main purpose is to facilitate non-recourse project financing . The buyer is typically a utility or a company that purchases the electricity to meet its customers' needs. In the case of distributed generation involving a commercial PPA variant, the buyer may be the occupant of the building—a business, school, or government for example. Electricity traders may also enter into PPA with

144-787: A PPA from the utility company Iberdrola in Mexico for 220 MW of new wind power capacity. Recently, a new form of PPA was proposed to commercialize electric vehicle charging stations through a bi-lateral form of power purchase agreement. Additionally, an innovative evolution of the PPA, the MESA ("Matched Energy Supply Agreement") has been introduced in Australia based on time matching technology which enables clean energy to be readily used by organisations without direct access to renewable energy sources. The European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET) has released

180-437: A PPA. Prices may be flat, escalate over time, or be negotiated in any other way as long as both parties agree to the negotiation. In a regulated environment, an Electricity Regulator will regulate the price. A PPA will often specify how much energy the supplier is expected to produce each year and any excess energy produced will have a negative impact on the sales rate of electricity that the buyer will be purchasing. This system

216-401: A change over time. For example: miles per hour, kilometres per hour, dollars per hour. Power units, such as kW, already measure the rate of energy per unit time (kW= kJ / s ). Kilowatt-hours are a product of power and time, not a rate of change of power with time. Watts per hour (W/h) is a unit of a change of power per hour, i.e. an acceleration in the delivery of energy. It is used to measure

252-442: A different voltage than the battery, it is the battery voltage (typically 3.7 V for Li-ion ) that must be used to calculate rather than the device output (for example, usually 5.0 V for USB portable chargers). This results in a 500 mA USB device running for about 3.7 hours on a 2,500 mAh battery, not five hours. The Board of Trade unit (B.T.U.) is an obsolete UK synonym for kilowatt-hour. The term derives from

288-462: A factor of three. While smaller customer loads are usually billed only for energy, transmission services, and the rated capacity, larger consumers also pay for peak power consumption, the greatest power recorded in a fairly short time, such as 15 minutes. This compensates the power company for maintaining the infrastructure needed to provide peak power. These charges are billed as demand changes. Industrial users may also have extra charges according to

324-441: A generation project is the responsibility of the seller. This includes regular inspection and repair, if necessary, to ensure prudent practices. Liquidated damages will be applied if the seller fails to meet these circumstances. Typically, the seller is also responsible for installing and maintaining a meter to determine the quantity of output that will be sold. Under this circumstance, the seller must also provide real-time data at

360-449: A kilowatt-hour over an eight-hour day. To convert a quantity measured in a unit in the left column to the units in the top row, multiply by the factor in the cell where the row and column intersect. All the SI prefixes are commonly applied to the watt-hour: a kilowatt-hour is 1,000 Wh (kWh); a megawatt-hour is 1 million Wh (MWh); a milliwatt-hour is 1/1,000 Wh (mWh) and so on. The kilowatt-hour

396-497: A period of one year. In 2020, the average household in the United States consumed 893 kWh per month. Raising the temperature of 1 litre of water from room temperature to the boiling point with an electric kettle takes about 0.1 kWh. A 12 watt LED lamp lit constantly uses about 0.3 kW⋅h per 24 hours and about 9 kWh per month. In terms of human power , a healthy adult male manual laborer performs work equal to about half

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432-577: A set of CPPA Standard Documentation. Further research in this area is anticipated to benefit the PPA industry. Kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol : kW⋅h or kW h ; commonly written as kWh ) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour . Kilowatt-hours are a common billing unit for electrical energy supplied by electric utilities . Metric prefixes are used for multiples and submultiples of

468-485: A yearly basis, in units such as megawatt-hours per year (MWh/yr) gigawatt-hours/year (GWh/yr) or terawatt-hours per year (TWh/yr). These units have dimensions of energy divided by time and thus are units of power. They can be converted to SI power units by dividing by the number of hours in a year, about 8760 h/yr . Thus, 1 GWh/yr = 1 GWh/8760 h ≈ 114.12 kW . Many compound units for various kinds of rates explicitly mention units of time to indicate

504-482: Is commonly used by electrical energy providers for purposes of billing, since the monthly energy consumption of a typical residential customer ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand kilowatt-hours. Megawatt-hours (MWh), gigawatt-hours (GWh), and terawatt-hours (TWh) are often used for metering larger amounts of electrical energy to industrial customers and in power generation. The terawatt-hour and petawatt-hour (PWh) units are large enough to conveniently express

540-585: Is intended to provide an incentive for the seller to properly estimate the amount of energy that will be produced in a given period of time. The buyer will typically require the seller to guarantee that the project will meet certain performance standards. If the electricity output fails to meet that specified by the PPA, the seller is responsible for retributing such costs. Other guarantees may include availability guarantees and power-curve guarantees. These are more applicable in regions where energy sources, such as some types of renewable energy , are more volatile. In

576-450: Is measured in watts , or joules per second . For example, a battery stores energy. When the battery delivers its energy, it does so at a certain power, that is, the rate of delivery of the energy. The higher the power, the quicker the battery's stored energy is delivered. A higher power output will cause the battery's stored energy to be depleted in a shorter time period. Electric energy production and consumption are sometimes reported on

612-403: Is sold to the building occupant), commercial PPAs have evolved as a variant that enables businesses, schools, and governments to purchase electricity directly from the generator rather than from the utility. This approach facilitates the financing of distributed generation assets such as photovoltaic, micro-turbines, reciprocating engines, and fuel cells. More than 137 firms in 32 countries reported

648-450: Is typically sold to consumers in kilowatt-hours. The cost of running an electrical device is calculated by multiplying the device's power consumption in kilowatts by the operating time in hours, and by the price per kilowatt-hour. The unit price of electricity charged by utility companies may depend on the customer's consumption profile over time. Prices vary considerably by locality. In the United States prices in different states can vary by

684-467: Is used with loads or output that vary during the year but whose annual totals are similar from one year to the next. For example, it is useful to compare the energy efficiency of household appliances whose power consumption varies with time or the season of the year. Another use is to measure the energy produced by a distributed power source. One kilowatt-hour per year equals about 114.08 milliwatts applied constantly during one year. The energy content of

720-684: The International System of Units (SI). Other representations of the unit may be encountered: The hour is a unit of time listed among the non-SI units accepted by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for use with the SI. An electric heater consuming 1,000 watts (1 kilowatt) operating for one hour uses one kilowatt-hour of energy. A television consuming 100 watts operating continuously for 10 hours uses one kilowatt-hour. A 40-watt electric appliance operating continuously for 25 hours uses one kilowatt-hour. Electrical energy

756-433: The annual electricity generation for whole countries and the world energy consumption . A kilowatt is a unit of power (rate of flow of energy per unit of time). A kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy. Kilowatt per hour would be a rate of change of power flow with time. Work is the amount of energy transferred to a system; power is the rate of delivery of energy. Energy is measured in joules , or watt-seconds . Power

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792-405: The power factor of their load. Major energy production or consumption is often expressed as terawatt-hours (TWh) for a given period that is often a calendar year or financial year . A 365-day year equals 8,760 hours, so over a period of one year, power of one gigawatt equates to 8.76 terawatt-hours of energy. Conversely, one terawatt-hour is equal to a sustained power of about 114 megawatts for

828-561: The European Union, where it has been utilized to fund about 9 GW of output, headed by significant contracts in Spain and Scandinavia. The German Energy Agency ( Deutsche Energie-Agentur ) has argued that PPAs are central to the German energiewende and require better regulatory support. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) may be appropriate where: The PPA is often regarded as the central document in

864-479: The PPA provider to raise non-recourse financing from a bank or other financing counterparty. Funding for PPAs comes from various sources depending on the location, companies involved and available sources. Non-profit as well as for-profit PPA funders operate - for example, in Australia, PPA pioneers Smart Commercial Solar fund their commercial PPAs largely via the not-for-profit community investment vehicle, Clear Skies Solar Investment . Maintenance and operation of

900-537: The Seller. The sale of electricity under a PPA can occur at various physical points of the electrical grid . This is usually pre-defined by the contract. A common approach is to sell the electricity directly where the generator connects to the grid (a so-called "busbar" sale). In this type of transaction, the buyer is responsible for transmission of the energy from the seller. Alternatively, the PPA can distinguish another delivery point agreed upon by both parties, in which case

936-735: The UK, PPAs are regulated by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In the United States, PPAs are typically subject to regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC determines which facilities are applicable for PPAs under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 . PPAs facilitate the financing of distributed generation assets such as photovoltaic, microturbines, reciprocating engines, and fuel cells. PPAs are typically subject to regulation at

972-450: The basic unit, the watt-hour (3.6 kJ). The kilowatt-hour is a composite unit of energy equal to one kilowatt (kW) sustained for (multiplied by) one hour. The International System of Units (SI) unit of energy meanwhile is the joule (symbol J). Because a watt is by definition one joule per second , and because there are 3,600 seconds in an hour, one kWh equals 3,600  kilojoules or 3.6 MJ. A widely used representation of

1008-558: The daily variation of demand (e.g. the slope of the duck curve ), or ramp-up behavior of power plants . For example, a power plant that reaches a power output of 1 MW from 0 MW in 15 minutes has a ramp-up rate of 4 MW/h . Other uses of terms such as watts per hour are likely to be errors. Several other units related to kilowatt-hour are commonly used to indicate power or energy capacity or use in specific application areas. Average annual energy production or consumption can be expressed in kilowatt-hours per year. This

1044-410: The development of independent electricity generating assets (power plants). Because it defines the revenue terms for the project and credit quality, it is key to obtaining non-recourse project financing. One of the key benefits of the PPA is that by clearly defining the output of the generating assets (such as a solar electric system) and the credit of its associated revenue streams, a PPA can be used by

1080-413: The kilowatt-hour is kWh , derived from its component units, kilowatt and hour. It is commonly used in billing for delivered energy to consumers by electric utility companies, and in commercial, educational, and scientific publications, and in the media. It is also the usual unit representation in electrical power engineering. This common representation, however, does not comply with the style guide of

1116-561: The name of the Board of Trade which regulated the electricity industry until 1942 when the Ministry of Power took over. This should not be confused with a British Thermal Unit (BTU) which is 1055 J. In India, the kilowatt-hour is often simply called a unit of energy. A million units, designated MU , is a gigawatt-hour and a BU (billion units) is a terawatt-hour. Deutsche Energie-Agentur Too Many Requests If you report this error to

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1152-542: The request of the buyer, including atmospheric data relevant to the type of technology installed. A basic sample PPA between the Bonneville Power Administration and a wind power generating entity was developed as a reference for future PPAs. Solar PPAs are now being successfully utilized in the California Solar Initiative's Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program. This aspect of

1188-399: The seller is responsible for transmission. More complex arrangements, where the generator feeds electricity into one point of the grid and the buyer withdraws electricity from another point, also exist. Since prices often differ at different points of the grid, the PPA contract for such arrangements specifies how the price difference is split. Electricity rates are agreed upon as the basis for

1224-409: The signing of power purchase agreements in 2021. In Australia, onsite PPAs typically take the form of rooftop solar on commercial premises which is designed and built by a solar EPC who then manage and maintain the asset, selling the energy back to the business customer for the life of the agreement. Under a PPA, the seller is the entity that owns the project. In most cases, the seller is organized as

1260-479: The state and federal level to varying degrees depending on the nature of the PPA and the extent to which the sale of electricity is regulated where the project is sited. In the U.S., FERC determines which facilities are considered to be exempt wholesale generators (EWG) or qualifying facilities and are applicable for PPAs under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 . PPAs are more prevalent in the United States. However, in recent years, this type of financing has gained pace in

1296-983: The successful CSI program was just recently opened for applications. PPAs can be managed in the European market by service providers. The legal agreements between the statewide power sectors(seller) and the trader(buyer/who buys large quantity of power) will be treated as the PPA in power sector. Data center owners Amazon , Google , and Microsoft have used PPAs to offset the emissions and power usage of cloud computing . Amazon has signed power purchase agreements with 44 renewable energy projects in nine different countries, totaling 6.2 GW in 2021, following its commitment to power its facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and zero carbon emissions by 2040. Some manufacturers with heavy carbon emission footprints and energy usage such as Anheuser-Busch InBev have also shown interest in PPAs. In 2017, Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to purchase using

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