Review and morphological analysis of renewable power purchasing agreement types

Abstract

Renewable power purchase agreements are an important tool in financing renewable generation capacity projects. They advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals by supporting renewable energy expansion, reducing emissions, and promoting sustainable energy access. There are various contract structures that currently lack classification and standardization. This analysis reviews the existing academic and gray literature to provide an overview of existing contract types of renewable power purchasing agreements. Those contracts are classified by their main features. The literature is supplemented with first-hand expert knowledge by conducting eight semi-structured interviews with industry experts to provide an overview of the current international renewable power purchasing agreements market. Finally, based on the review and interviews, a morphological box is developed that allows the structured design and analysis of renewable power purchasing agreements. To this end, the first classification of renewable power purchasing agreements is provided along the currently existing characteristics, which describes interdependencies between these characteristics. The results support the standardization of contracts and provide a terminology for researchers and practitioners. This article is, therefore, the first comprehensive review of the current state of renewable power purchasing agreements and supports policymakers, academics and practitioners in structuring their PPA analysis and design with an innovative morphological analysis. • First comprehensive overview of existing PPA structures and characteristics. • Classification of PPAs along their defining features. • Description of PPA market based on insights from eight expert interviews. • Development of morphological box for the design of PPA contracts. • Introduction of risk calculation for PPA structures based on morphological box.

Topics & Concepts