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Written by Website Administrator
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008 22:47 |
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The benefits of the PPA model continue to increase as the commercial solar market matures and the financing market becomes more liquid: No Up-Front Financial Committment - Development and contruction risk/cost financed by the service provider/developer
- Client makes no upfront payments and monthly utility style payments only due once the project is "in-service"
Outsource Design/Development Complexity and Ongoing Maintenance - Larger scale solar projects require careful design and engineering to ensure good fit with customer needs - electricity demand patterns, location of the site, utility tarrifs, solar module and inverter availability and system configuration need to be taken into consideration
- Operations and Maintenance (O&M) agreements ensure the efficient long-term management of the site
- Aligned interests - service provider has vested interest in ensuring system works at maximum efficiency for the life of the solar array
Hedge Against Rising Energy Prices - PPA's can extend for up to 25 years, thereby enabling the customer to lock into energy prices
- Significant flexibility available around price escalators
Contract Simplicity - PPA documentation becoming more simple/established - customers purchases 100% of electricity for a pre-determined period (10-25 years) at a negotiated price
- Only other significant document (for the customer) is a ground lease to enable the PPA provider to build and operate the on-site solar array
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