In the US, 52% of wind capacity originates in corporate PPAs, up from 23% in 2014 and 5% in 2013, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Yet Europe is lagging behind, with green PPAs having only being signed by industrial or digital consumers since 2015.
So why is Europe so far adrift? Are the recent European PPAs only a fad, or are there fundamental reasons for green energy off-takes on the continent? And what could be done to accelerate it?
In the US, instead of buying power directly from utilities, a number of corporations (digital companies such as Google and Apple, but also larger industrial corporates likes Dow Chemical and Volkswagen) are buying green energy under long-term PPAs directly from independent...