LevelTen: European solar PPA prices rise just 1.3% in Q1 2025

There was similar stability in the wind sector – the report notes that the average price of a wind PPA signed increased just 0.9% quarter-on-quarter – and LevelTen said that this may be a good time to make investments in the sector, as “pricing stability is undoubtedly here.”

This stability is reflected in some of Europe’s leading markets. In Spain and France, for instance, the average solar PPA price decreased by 5.1% and increased by 6.3%, respectively, from one quarter to the next. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, meanwhile, Spain saw a 3.9% decline in offtake price, while France saw a 6.9% increase, suggesting that, even over a longer time frame, there is stability in the offtake agreements signed in these key markets.

However, other countries reported greater variation in prices, most notably Denmark and Bulgaria, which reported a quarter-on-quarter increase in solar PPA prices of 26.1% and 13.5%, respectively, the most among the countries profiled. Over the last year, there have also been significant declines in the average solar PPA price signed in Sweden, Poland and Germany, with deal prices in these countries falling by 20.8%, 17.7% and 15.2%, respectively, from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025.

This is the latest example of falling prices in the German solar sector, following the Federal Network Agency’s, the Bundesnetzagentur’s, lowering of price ceilings for this year’s PV auctions. This year’s auctions have delivered lower prices and been consistently oversubscribed, suggesting that solar power is becoming more popular in Germany.

However, last year, LevelTen director of European analytics Plácido Ostos told PV Tech Premium that there is likely to be a limit to these price declines, saying that “there is a limit” to how far these figures can fall before deals become unworkable.

Stability reflected in blended PPAs

Additionally, blended PPAs – those that incorporate multiple renewable power technologies – have seen significant stability in prices, with the average PPA price across Europe increasing just 1.1% from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. This is a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%, a slightly larger figure, but one that would not characterise the sector as being unstable, or challenging to invest in.

This is also a positive development considering the growing popularity of these hybrid offtake deals, including those teamed with storage solutions. At least week’s Intersolar Europe conference, held in Munich, Itamar Orlandi, director for commercial strategy at Swiss consultancy Pexapark, which produces its own PPA reports, said that there is a risk regarding “investing in a single renewable power technology”, and that hybrid deals have become an important tool to minimise this risk.

“We’re seeing the independent power producers shift in parallel, desperately chasing anything that’s wind or hydropower to dilute the solar pipelines they want to bring to market,” said Orlandi.

PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media will host the Renewables Procurement & Revenue Summit on 21-22 May 2025 in London. The event will explore meeting Europe’s energy demand, the role of data centres in the energy transition, the outlook for European power and PPA prices and more. For more information, go to the website.