The situation
A draft power purchase agreement, uploaded
A chemicals company is signing its first two corporate PPAs: a ten-year pay-as-produced deal with a solar park in Extremadura and a baseload deal with a wind farm in Lower Saxony. The developers sent their templates. Counsel has three weeks before the board approves the price.
The price is the commercial team’s. Counsel reads for the allocation of risk: who bears curtailment and balancing, what a change in law does, whether the guarantees of origin actually transfer, and whether the structure brings reporting duties under the energy market rules.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Physical or financial changes the analysis
- A physical PPA delivers power through the grid into the buyer’s supply. A virtual PPA settles a price difference in cash. Which one it is changes the regulatory analysis, the accounting and the clauses that matter.
- Guarantees of origin carry the green claim
- Under the EU Renewable Energy Directive, guarantees of origin show that energy came from renewable sources. In Germany, power that receives a market premium under the renewable energy act generally cannot carry them, so the PPA must state how the green attribute passes.
- Market rules may reach the contract
- Wholesale energy contracts can fall under REMIT, the EU regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency, with reporting duties. Whether a particular PPA is reportable is a question to settle for each structure.
- Change in law and curtailment allocate the risk
- Energy law changes often, and grid operators can curtail generation. The review should check who bears each risk, whether compensation under the national rules flows through, and what triggers termination.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Attached are two draft PPAs: a 10-year pay-as-produced physical PPA with a solar park in Spain and a baseload PPA with a wind farm in Germany. We are the buyer. Review curtailment, balancing, guarantees of origin, change in law and termination. What should we push back on?
You start with
A draft power purchase agreement, uploaded
- 01
Upload both drafts
Add the two PPAs in their original language. azta reads them and refers back to the clause behind each point.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the legal points
Ask about guarantees of origin, REMIT and curtailment for each deal. azta cites the EU energy legislation and the Spanish and German acts.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check the provisions
Open each cited provision in the reader, in Spanish or German, with its in-force status.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Write the review
Ask for a review table by clause: risk, legal position and proposed change. Edit it in Canvas and export to Word for the board.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A clause-by-clause review with the legal points to negotiate
What you get
A clause-by-clause review with the legal points to negotiate
PPA review · draft
Extremadura and Lower Saxony PPAs: points to negotiate
Guarantees of origin. The German draft promises the green attribute but does not say who obtains and transfers the guarantees of origin, or what happens if the plant receives a market premium. We propose an express obligation to transfer them to our account each month, with a price reduction for any shortfall.
Curtailment. The Spanish draft treats every curtailment by the grid operator as force majeure, so the seller owes nothing for the lost volume. We propose that the seller covers our replacement cost for curtailment above an annual allowance, other than curtailment we instruct.
Change in law. Both drafts let the seller pass on any new tax or levy. We propose limiting this to changes that apply specifically to the plant, with a right for us to terminate if the price rises above an agreed level.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
11 minutes a month
At €150 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 32
- Capacity at your rate
- €4,860
- More PPA reviews a quarter
- 0.7
- Return on Pro
- 15×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The price, the volume shape and the hedging strategy.
- Accounting and regulatory sign-off on the structure.
- The negotiation and the decision to sign.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta hold energy regulators’ decisions?
- It holds legislation, court decisions, EU law and the regulator material its source register lists. Coverage varies by country, so check the register for the regulator you need.
- Can it review a PPA in Spanish or German?
- Yes. Upload the agreement in its original language. azta reads it and answers in English, citing the clause and the provision.
- Does it give an accounting view on the PPA?
- No. It researches the law and reviews the clauses. Whether the PPA is a derivative for accounting purposes stays with your accountants and auditors.
