Almost 100 buyers signed up to our Buyers Bootcamp, designed to strengthen the voices of leading corporate consumers of renewable electricity and unlock barriers to rapidly progress towards ambitious targets. After that, over 140 participants used the B2B Matchmaking Session for pre-booked meetings between clean energy buyers and sellers. Despite taking place virtually, the connections and networking opportunities RE-Source is known for were in full flow this morning. These pre-booked meetings really simulate the benefits of an in-person conference and provide moments of detailed and goal-oriented conversation. 

The afternoon brought two sessions on Green Procurement Strategies, examining how corporates can adopt different strategies to procure renewable electricity depending on their needs and goals. In these sessions, panellists discussed different procurement strategies including green tariffs and unbundled guarantees of origin, onsite leasing and ownership of renewable assets and physical & financial PPAs. 

Juan Rivier Abbad, Head of Boost for Growth at Iberdrola kicked off the session with a powerful message: “If anyone had any doubt about where we are going with this – we want an energy transition and we want it now. We have the technology. We have capital flowing into the energy sector and we have the costumers. More and more people are joining the energy transition and signing PPAs.”  IKEA spokesperson & Head of Climate and Energy at Ingka Group, Karol Gobczynski furthered this, saying that “24/7 renewable energy matching is a leadership criterion for sustainable companies today”. But for many this is unchartered territory and the panel offered guidance for all attendees, turning to RE-Source for the resources the market needs. As Mark Scoffin of Novartis said:  “Our panel agrees: The RE-Source Buyer’s Toolkit is an excellent starting point to understand the unknown area of corporate renewable PPAs. If you want to enter into renewable energy sourcing, make sure to check it out!”  

The second session on green procurement discussed in further detail different ways of curbing and managing risks associated with PPAs. “When designing PPAs, the risk should sit with the part that can best manage it. Risks are shared in consortia PPAs, where several companies come together to bundle risks,” stated Lars Meckenstock, Senior Vice President & Structured Origination at RWE Renewables. Tiago Thomaz, Head of Origination, Iberian market at Statkraft, echoed this advice on cooperation: “We will definitely see a growing trend of multi-buyer PPAs, which has many benefits. The complexity of these PPAs will continually become better understood and the risks can be better managed”. On the benefit of cooperation, not only within contracts but also in negotiating a way through some unknown territory and sharing learning experience, many participants heralded RE-Source Platform as an essential asset. Lauren Edelman, Energy Program Manager at Facebook, expressed that “RE-Source is doing a great job at helping to address barriers in markets across Europe where it’s hard to access renewable energy. Indeed, corporates can often move much faster in countries in accessing green power than legislation can.”  

RE-source continues tomorrow, kicking off Day 4 with A Primer on Pricing Corporate PPAs, a workshop by Pexapark. Find the full RE-source agenda here.