Axpo has signed a power purchase agreement to off-take electricity produced by a 300MW portfolio of solar farms in Poland owned by R Power Group.
Under the terms of the transaction between Axpo Polska and R Power, a special commercial structure has been created to ensure the profitability of the entire project portfolio.
Axpo Polska will buy the full output generated by the solar plants between 2022 and 2026, and will act as the balancing agent for the project portfolio.
It will also provide R Power Group access to price hedging instruments, which ensures bankability of the renewable energy projects.
The plants are currently under construction and have a projected capacity ranging from 0.3MW to 30MW and will be put into operation gradually, with full production expected by mid-2023.
Operations and maintenance company Nomad Electric Services will take care of the assets’ productivity, maintenance and service.
The negotiations were supported by Wolf Theiss Poland and Clifford Chance Warsaw.
Axpo Polska has been mainly active in marketing wind energy, with the offtake portfolio comprising almost 1.5GW of installed capacity.
Axpo Polska head origination and board member Paweł Wierzbicki said: “The agreement signed between Axpo and R.Power Group is one of the largest solar PPAs ever concluded in the Polish energy market, and demonstrates that Axpo intends to take a leading position marketing solar energy in Poland.
“We will continue to cooperate with R.Power Group on other solar projects that will also accelerate the Polish energy transition.”
R.Power board member Tomasz Sęk added: “We appreciate Axpo’s flexibility and pro-active approach.
“Building strong relationship with reliable off-takers, which have international presence, like Axpo is our priority to enhance scaling up R.Power Group activity and securing commercialization and bankability of our new PV projects both in Poland and abroad as our solar portfolio continues to expand in our priority European markets.”
Axpo has been present in the Polish market for 20 years. Clients in Poland can benefit from tailor-made PPAs, as well as power and gas supply solutions based on structured long-term contracts.
In the past six years, Axpo has also expanded its client portfolio to SMEs and now provides services for 15,000 of these companies in the country.