With ever-rising numbers of corporate organisations making renewable energy pledges, German utility innogy has decided to add 770MW of its solar and wind capacity from several countries to a platform that connects clean energy production to corporate buyers worldwide.
DNV GL’s Instatrust is a global renewable energy marketplace for power purchase agreements (PPAs) with corporate off-takers, who can assess wind and solar projects on the platform using an online tender tool with a scoring methodology.
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A company of innogy's magnitude joining the platform is set to add significant credibility to the endeavour. The German power giant will offer 13 onshore wind and solar projects from its portfolio across seven countries. All of these projects are in an advanced development stage or already under construction.
In a company release, innogy explained that joining DNV GL's platform will help it obtain a forecastable income for these projects. Roland Kok, head of Customer Solutions at innogy’s Renewables segment, said that the platform combines ease of use with independence in a manner that facilitates a more simplified PPA process.
“Renewable energy usage is becoming more and more a service over a commodity according to us and digitisation enables us to connect easier and earlier with the right partners,” Kok added.
The move comes at a time of global business transformation with hundreds of big hitters announcing 100% renewable energy plans in search of reduced energy costs, price volatility and carbon footprints. Indeed, last year corporates significantly increased their purchase of electricity produced by renewables to a record 19.5GW, accounting for 10% of all such energy produced, according to BloombergNEF stats released in January.
This surging interest in deals with clean energy providers comes with a demand for transparency, said Ditlev Engel, CEO of DNV GL’s Energy unit.
The new Instatrust offering is said to be a place where corporate buyers can assess operational, weather, credit and price risks of the PPA market centrally. Meanwhile, from the renewable energy providers' point of view, the platform can help reduce exposure to merchant risks and improve the bankability of projects.
Earlier this month, DNV GL launched a new online tool, Solar Resource Compass, that aggregates solar irradiance from many leading data providers to help users make more informed decisions about the data available and the variance between data sources.
Last month, innogy secured auction contracts for a sizeable small-scale pipeline PV pipeline in Poland, set to be deployed in clusters.