Statkraft and BOREAS conclude two power purchase agreements

Statkraft will purchase power and capacity certificates from the wind projects of Waldwisse and Launstroff, with an installed capacity of 10 MW each.

"The transition from feed-in-tariffs to direct marketing is now well underway in France", explains Laurent Talbot, Head of Sales & New Products France at Statkraft.

"In this new context, the financial solidity of market access providers and their competencies in the management of intermittent renewable energy are assessed in detail by developers. We offer them a purchase agreement recognised by the main financing banks and a set of robust processes based on our knowledge of the French market and our strong experience in market access," Talbot adds.

"The last announcements of the French government are confirming onshore wind farms as a cornerstone of France's energy transition over the next decades," says Simon Maurice-Demourioux, Managing Director of BOREAS French subsidiary.

"We, as developers and operators, are striving to reach the goal of 100% renewable energy consumption. Part of that process is a market evolution toward direct marketing and power purchase agreements," he adds.

The wind farms will be commissioned in December 2018 and January 2019. They are located in the Moselle department. In addition of the development and construction BOREAS will also operate these wind farms. Statkraft will integrate these installations in its balancing group and will control them remotely to ensure the automatic downregulation of production during negative price events.

Market access in France: "complément de rémunération" and feed-in tariff exit

Since the start of the new “complément de rémunération” support scheme for renewable energy producers, Statkraft has been offering developers and investors a complete solution: a purchase agreement underpinned by a strong financial rating along with a solid process management for plant connection, the certification of capacity guarantees and REMIT reporting. Statkraft is also working alongside with developers, investors and industry associations’ working groups on corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), to develop new types of market access solutions in France.

With a portfolio of roughly 15,000 MW Statkraft is the leading renewable energy aggregator in Europe. In Germany alone, Statkraft steers approx. 1,300 wind and solar generation facilities through a virtual power plant. With a total capacity of 10,000 MW it is presumably the largest virtual power plant of its kind in the world. The company has been active in the French energy market for more than 15 years. In 2009, Statkraft opened an office in Lyon.