The corporate off-taker in a PPA will enter a long term (usually over 10 to 15 years) with a RE generator to take a portion or all of the energy generated by its plant (or a cluster of plants) for a pre-defined price per MWh. They are of three types, with the main difference being the manner in which the energy provider agrees to provide power to a client.
On-site PPA: This PPA would, you guessed it, give direct access to power and the provider’s plant will be quite close to the buyer’s site, if not in the same vicinity. This gives a big edge for the buyer. Most on-site PPAs are corporate PPAs. Umicore signed one of the largest on-site PPAs in Europe with ENGIE and Axpo to source renewable electricity from offshore and onshore wind turbines in Belgium.
Off-site PPA: As it is understood, the RE power plant location is not at the site of the buyer. The power provider agrees to transport power physically or through grids or through financially settled transactions. This agreement makes sense to companies that have data centers and would need a large amount of electricity. Amazon has signed 44 off-site PPAs totaling 6.2GW during its recent clean power buying spree.
Sleeved PPA: In a broader sense, this is an off-site PPA. The energy provider offers additional services such as roping other electricity producers to its portfolio, selling surplus quantities, balancing group management, forecasts, green certificates, and accountability in various risk factors.