Next Renewable Generation planned and successfully hosted a business breakfast on Friday, 31 March 2017. The event, which is the first in a series planned to run throughout the year, was designed to assist clients and various key industry stakeholders on understanding and navigating private Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

NRG kicked off the first session by focusing on the legal aspects that form an integral part of a successful PPA project. The keynote speaker was Ms Alessandra Pardini, a partner at Webber Wentzel (law firm). The presentation covered essential clauses that both potential clients and independent power producers should be familiar with, the complexities that are introduced by debt funding, and how commercial PPA’s differ from what the market has become accustomed to in larger utility programmes like REIPPP.

The event was held at the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton and was well-attended by more than 30 representatives from commercial banks, municipalities, law firms, suppliers and OEMS, and private companies who are considering, or have just entered into, PPAs. Some debate around the role of commercial banks in smaller scale rooftop PPA’s provided interesting insights on the large development costs associated with small projects.

Feedback from NRG’s existing clients on their learnings around legal negotiation was also well received by attendees considering private PPAs for their businesses. Input from City Power’s Paul Vermeulen on the recently approved Feed-in-Tariffs guided a discussion on how the energy landscape is changing in favour of private power sales.

All in all, attendees indicated that because private PPA’s are a relatively new concept and organisations sometimes lack “in-house” expertise to evaluate PPA proposals, the information session was succinct, relevant and much needed.

More of these business breakfast events are planned for later in the year, to cover topics such as Technical, Commercial and Financial considerations.

NRG thanks Ms Pardini and all attendees for their valuable contribution and participation.

If you would like to be included in future events or want to know more about private PPAs for your business, please e-mail info@nrgeneration.com