European PPA prices decreased by 0.6% in August, with solar continuing to be the main element in renewable offtake agreements.

European power purchase agreement (PPA) prices declined by 0.6% from July to August this year, as reported by Swiss consultancy Pexpark.

In their first 'Pexapark Brief' report, replacing the previous monthly 'PPA Times,' they indicated that the EURO Composite tracker for PPA prices hit €48.78/MWh at the end of August, down from €49.09/MWh in July.

The biggest drops were in Poland, where average PPA prices fell 2.9% month-on-month, and France, which saw a 2.5% decrease. Pexapark attributes this to reduced coal contract prices in Poland, affecting energy prices in its "thermal-heavy power mix." Conversely, PPA prices in Germany increased by 1% during the same period.

Although composite figures for September are not yet available, the consultancy observed a significant rise in new PPAs. Only nine PPAs totaling 450MW were signed in August, while 12 deals covering 421.3MW were completed in the first three weeks of September. This suggests September's contracted PPA capacity will at least match August's.

Solar power was prominent in both months, with a 150MW solar deal in August and a 100MW solar offtake agreement in September, each being the largest deal for their respective months. Solar accounts for half of the deals in September.

This deal-making pace is slower than the 1.4GW contracted in June but is a notable increase from the 178MW in May, aligning more closely with the early months of the year. However, both August and September 2024 saw greater contracted capacity volumes, with 474MW and 1.1GW, respectively.